How To Avoid Rip-Offs
Email Fraud
If you receive an email from your bank, requesting sensitive
personal information, for any reason whatsoever, do not respond
to the email. Reputable banks Never send out emails
requesting account information. If you are worried your account
may be terminated, then log off your email program, and log onto
your bank's website using your username and password.
A particularly unpleasant type of spammer, more correctly email
fraudster sends out fraudulent or ?spoof? emails that claim to
come from your bank. They send these out indiscriminately
however, so you are most likely to receive emails claiming to
come from banks other than your own.
Sometimes these fraudulent emails claim they come from eBay,
PayPal, or other popular web sites.
If you are a member of eBay or PayPal, then only access their
sites directly from your browser.
According to US Postal Inspectors, identity theft (also called
phishing) via email, is the fastest growing crime in America.
With the recent spate of fraud (spoof) emails, the UK is not
far behind! The spammers who send out these spoof emails hope
that unsuspecting recipients will supply sensitive personal
information, such as bank account and/or credit card details, PIN
numbers, Social Security numbers etc. Always take great care when
you receive an email asking for sensitive information. Just
because it says it is from your bank or PayPal or eBay, does not
mean it does.
If you do ever receive an unexpected email requesting
sensitive personal information, then please contact your bank, or
whoever claims to have sent you the email, direct. Do not click
on any links in the email.
If you receive an email, you think is from your bank, you need to
check the following:
- Is the email addressed to you personally e.g. ?Dear John
Smith?? However, if it is NOT and is addressed to ?Dear
MyBank customer?, then it is most probably a fake.
- If the blue link text in the email contains the prefix
"https:" then the email is a fake - Delete it immediately!
- Similarly, if the blue link text in the email contains the
word "scgi" then the email is a fake - Delete it immediately!
- Both "https:", and "scgi" can indicate that the link is to
a secure site. Although this might seem like a good thing,
genuine bank (or eBay and Paypal) emails never contain direct
links to secure sites. If you do accidentally click on the
link, then you need to check the following:
-
Make sure the
address displayed in your browser's address box displays the
name of your bank.
-
Make sure, the
address is prefixed with "http:" and NOT "https:", if the
address is prefixed by "https:" then it is almost certainly a
fake website.
-
If the address
in the Address box is something like:
http://256.256.256.256:256/cgi/index.htm - (this is called an
IP Address) then it is definitely a fake
website.
Notes:
- A genuine web site will always have the name of the company
or bank in the Address.
Remember - just because a web address starts with the prefix
"http" and contains the name of your bank, does not mean it is
either genuine, or that it is your bank's web site.
- Never enter personal information into ANY site that
you link to directly from any email, no matter who the sender
is. (It is most probably not who you think it is!)
- If you log on to your bank's website directly, that is NOT
from an email link, then you will notice your bank site's
address will be prefixed by "https:" (Fraudsters have started
copying this format.)
- Also, never send sensitive information by email, hackers
can intercept insecure emails and get hold of your personal
details. Always log onto your bank's web site directly before
entering any sensitive information.
- If you ever inadvertently reply to a fraudulent email or
log on to a fake website, with sensitive information, then be
sure to contact your bank and/or credit card company
immediately, to prevent identity theft.
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Guide
to scams and rip-offs
