Not going to fall for that old trick
The ever-vigilant IT department here at Network World just issued a warning to be on the lookout for phishing email purporting to be from Western Union.
Western Union? What? I’m going to fall for the old “You’ve got a telegram” ruse? (The email was indeed in my inbox.)
I kid, of course, because we all remember that Western Union transacted its final telegram back in 2006. From an Associated Press story:
For more than 150 years, messages of joy, sorrow and success came in signature yellow envelopes hand-delivered by a courier. Now the Western Union telegram is officially a thing of the past.
The company formed in April 1856 to exploit the hot technology of the telegraph to send cross-country messages in less than a day. It is now focusing its attention on money transfers and other financial services, and delivered its final telegram on Friday.
“The decision was a hard decision because we’re fully aware of our heritage,” said Victor Chayet, a spokesman for the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based company. “But it’s the final transition from a communications company to a financial services company.”
And nothing attracts phishers like a financial services company.
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