Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Fraudulent email warning

I was almost taken in by this very harmless looking email this morning. I was seriously interested in getting my bank statement sent to me electronically. I was really tempted to click on the link given in the email. Luckily, I have developed a habit of treating ALL emails from banks as suspect. I decided to call the bank directly instead, and I was prepared to give them a piece of my mind for sending emails out. Imagine my surprise when I found out that this was a fraudulent email and I was asked to forward it to them for investigation by their fraud department.

Look at the image here (double click to enlarge). Would you have suspected this was a fraud? Do forward this blog to anyone who might benefit from learning about taking extra care NEVER to respond to any email from any bank, no matter how innocuous it looks.

(Possible scenario: if you clicked on the link given in the email, it might take you to a fictitious webpage that looks like your bank's website. Then if you key in your ID and password, the fraudster could get that information and use it to empty your bank account)

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