Shinsei Bank in Japan falls victim to phisher folks. Phishing email messages attempting to dupe Shinsei Bank customers started popping up over the Japan Web scene as early as last month. A sample of the phishing email message can be found below:

Subject of the aforementioned email message may be any of the following:

• Lock your Shinsei Bank Online Access!
• Suspend your account!
• We regret to inform you!

Similar to most phishing email messages, the URL used appears to be a legitimate Shinsei Bank URL. However, once clicked, it accesses a malicious Web site that obtains account specifics of anyone that has fallen prey to this scheme.

Notably, the phishing message is composed in English. Also, this particular phishing email message was spotted on July 25. Is it coincidental that phishers are scouring the Internet for victims on a payday? Most Japanese companies has 25th of every month as payday.