Wells Fargo Phishery?

Ace:

Since I’m traveling, I wanted to call my bank and let them know I’d be out of the country so that my card would be allowed to work.

I searched on google for the bank, Wells Fargo.  The top result claimed this was Wells Fargo’s official site:

"http://wellsfargo.p.delivery.net/m/p/wls/jmp/jump.asp?page=multiproduct_checking.htm"

After talking to the woman -- and getting a very bad vibe about the questions she was asking -- I decided I might have just gotten phished.
...
I called Wells Fargo. They told me they did not recognize the number I’d called as one of their numbers. And the change I asked to be put through had not been put through.
...
Watch out. Don’t be an idiot like me.

Don’t trust Google’s sponsored links to find phone numbers like this.

Excerpts from the comments, below the break.
From the comments:

42  The link http://wellsfargo.p.delivery.net/... is indicative of a forwarding addy and looks like phishing.  Looking at the landing page source code, however, does not implicate it as a phishing site.  The site does not directly solicit form data and does provide valid links to Wells Fargo content.  Form data requests on the landing page is a giant red flag for phishing.  That site isn’t a phish but it is a curious practice going on.

Looking further, delivery.net is the landing domain and it is, apparently, an advertising/promotion front of sorts.  The domain is owned by Acxiom Digital which is an ad agency of sorts.  Not coincidentally, Acxiom Digital partners [so they say - o.g.] with Google (and Yahoo and others) to promote sites.
...
That would explain why the Acxiom Digital site (delivery.net) in particular tops the Google list.  Google might well be promoting its “partner’s” listing to control traffic and hits through their domains first rather than directly to the searched business itself.
...
If Google’s in the picture, it’s suspect.  The question is what are they taking from you while they give you something else.  But I digress.
Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at February 12, 2009 01:47 AM (sI5Ho)

43  I'm going to defend Ace here because I just tried a test of several bank names in Google and found similar results.  If you search with Google and look at the web address of the sponsored link on the search results page, the website address listed is the EXACT SAME address as the Wells Fargo website.  It is not until you click the link that the address displayed differs from the real website.  This is also true of Bank of America.  Given this, why wouldn't someone believe that the real corporation is the sponsored link?...
 Posted by: ParanoidInSeattle at February 12, 2009 01:48 AM (AJ4xq)

52  Checked BofA just now.  The sponsored link is real.  Hmm.
No wamu sponsor at all.
The sponsored Wells Fargo is fake.

I could do this all night. I'm better off playing Fallout3.

Posted by: Amanda at February 12, 2009 02:04 AM (SXosX)

89  if you google the phone number on that website, you’ll get really fishy results about people receiving random calls from this number asking for personal information about themselves and their neighbors. some say it’s a number of a collection agency. whatever it is, something sketchy is going on.
Posted by: pirate of the perineum at February 12, 2009 08:59 AM (pz0CV)

Will be interesting to see if Ace hears anything from Google or Acxiom.  Stay tuned!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 18:33:58 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 559 words, total size 5 kb.