Fox Scully received an email promoting a new financial services institution that offers surprisingly low mortgage rates. The email asked customers to provide their address, date of birth, Social Security number, and current mortgage information in order to receive a free loan quote. Suspicious of the offer, Fox researched the company and discovered that the email was fraudulent. This is an example of ________.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Take a close look at the scenario: an email solicits personal information (address, date of birth, SSN, mortgage details) under the promise of a free loan quote, and the recipient verifies the offer is fraudulent. This pattern is characteristic of phishing, where attackers impersonate legitimate entities to trick people into divulging sensitive data.
Option 1: data mining. This term refers to extracting patterns from large datasets, not to social engineering or fraudulent solicitations via email. It does not describe the method used to collect personal details in this case.
Option 2: viral marketing. Viral marketing relies on enticing content that spreads rapidly through sharing, often legitimate and commercial in nature. The described email is deceptive and aims to steal information, so this label is inappropriate.
Option 3: crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing involves soliciting contributions from a large group of people to complete a task or gather information, typically with a legitimate or charitable purpose. The scenario does not involve collaboration to accomplish a constructive goal but rather deception for data theft.
Option 4: cold calling. Cold calling is a direct sales technique conducted over the phone, not an email-based phishing attempt. While related to unsolicited contact, the question focuses on the fraudulent email requesting sensitive data, which aligns better with phishing.
Option 5: phishing. This is the term for fraudulent messages that impersonate legitimate institutions and aim to extract confidential information such as SSNs and financial details. The urgently requested personal data under the guise of a loan quote matches phishing precisely.

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