Woolworths satisfaction survey scam email

Today’s phishing email purports to be from the Woolworths Online department. For our overseas readers, Woolworths are an Australian supermarket chain, specializing in groceries. The phishing campaign launched over the weekend. The volume of emails received outstripped other phishing campaigns over the weekend, and the email is a nasty one. The email links to a site that steals user’s banking details. The creators of the email made many errors. It is a scam email.

Figure A is the email in question. A copy of the Woolworths logo appears in the email. “You have been selected by Woolworths” is the subject line. The sender of the email is “To access the survey”. The email domain is not the Woolworths email domain. There are two links in the email. Both are to the same website. The anchor text of the first link is “To access the survey”. The second link uses “Click here and complete the form”. The email has the headings “Customer Satisfaction Survey!” followed by “Win 50$”. There is no greeting. We don’t consider the heading “Congratulations” fulfills the function of a greeting.

MailShark Woolworths satisfaction survey scam email — Figure A – Click to Enlarge

The email says that the recipient can receive a credit of $50, in return for filling out a survey. It is common for marketing companies to offer some form of largess in return for completing surveys. The email is using a legitimate marketing tactic. The email goes on to explain that the survey is “quick and easy”. All information provided is held for three days, according to the email.

This email is a fake. If you read further than the opening lines, you’ll note grammatical errors. The errors increase further on. The other check is the links. The links do not lead to the genuine Woolworths website. They lead to a malicious site. This site is a crude copy of the Woolworths website. It steals user account details. Woolworths publicly list any promotions they are running, if there is any doubt.

Scott Reeves
MailShark
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