Last Friday morning, I got this email from my bank. I clicked on the link, even though at that exact moment I had a sinking feeling in my belly that I was doing the wrong thing. Luckily, the window that came up said "Page cannot be displayed". Otherwise, my business might be in deep trouble financially.
I decided to print the email and take it to my bank, and when I showed it to one of the VP's, she said it is definitely a fraud. She told me, "We will NEVER email you for ANY reason. No bank will ever email a client."
I asked her if I had done any damage by clicking on the link, and she said I had not, since I didn't enter any identifying information. The person who fabricated this email is looking for passwords. I am so thankful he didn't get mine!
The oddest thing is that when I printed the email, instead of just the message above, I got what you see here below as well. At that point, I KNEW it was a fraud. I am hoping that this person can be caught, but apparently bad writing alone will not get him a jail sentence.
According to the bank rep., I am not the only person to bring them a similar email; however, the other ones have different stories. Perhaps the person hell-bent on computer fraud is also a frustrated writer. When he is finally caught, he will have a lot of time to write - in prison.
30 comments:
Wow, a whole different blog! Has been a while since I was last roaming the blog circuit. Thankfully, we have not received any fraudulent bank email notices. Did have a computer hacker. But this reminds me of the time when I worked as an Office Manager and got a long distance call...from Nigeria...was one of those relay calls and was on it for over an hour...person wanted 100 pairs of shoes shipped out...and was giving us a stolen CC. Took a few days to realize it was a scam. They go through the relay calls all the time. When will we finally be getting REAL spring weather!!! LOL
Yeah. I get lots of those. The best is getting them from banks I don't do business with.
I do so much buying and selling of stuff online that I just report my cards missing every three or four months to get the numbers refreshed. It's a headache. But I get nailed by identity theft so often that it's the lesser of many weevils.
I am so glad that you posted this so I can be on the lookout. I cant believe that people actually do that!
I have gotten a few of those...now my virus center gobbles them up. Good thinking on your part. Pretty sad world sometimes.
This kind of computer fraud is extremely prevalent unfortunately. i am so glad that you didn't get caught out by it but many people do.
You know, I'm a statistic. I had my identity stolen in 2000. And the crazy part is I never would have found out if my car hadn't been stolen in 2003. When I was going through to process of cancelling check books and credit cards (which had been left inside my car), my bank informed me that someone had been setting up accounts in my name for over two years. Needless to say, I am very wary of giving out any personal information. I'm happy you didn't get burned on this deal!
Blake
Anytime you get any Email with a link in it--always look at the link destination before clicking it. Even without entering a password, Judy, just hitting a link allows the SPAM sender to know he's hit on a real Email address. No harm there but it could mean that you'll be targeted with a lot more SPAM in the future.
As for Traci, I wouldn't be surprised if she was taking advantage of her Stepdad. That's one woman who seemed to get exactly what she wanted.
Scams like that make me so angry. People are getting ripped off all the time in a varitey of ways, and I hope those who run these scams get LONG jail sentences for what they do to people.
I'm glad you didn't get caught by this one.
You did a great thing by exposing them here and by showing your bank what you received.
my husband works for a bank and they have had this same thing happen..... so glad you didn't fall for it! this kind of thing is so infuriating!
I had this happen with Amazon.com. I got an email saying my account had been accidently cancelled and I needed to re-enter all my info to open it again. I had an order in progress, so I filled in all the info, and at the end it asked for my debit card pin number! Finally it occurred to me that it was a scam. I forwarded the email to Amazon and they said I ought to change my Amazon password. They also said they'd follow up on it.
Now, whenever I get something suspicious, or annoying I forward it to spam@uce.gov Supposedly they track down the bad guys.
Eeep!
That's my bank too! Thanks for the posting, I'll keep my eye out!
I have a friend who should have known better, but followed one of those emails. Six months later he his still cleaning up the mess.
I got several e-mails from BofA. Because I had changed my e-mail address, I knew it wasn't theirs.
I e-mailed them, and they told me to forward any of those e-mails to abuse@bankofamerica.com.
I too have received e-mails from banks I have no accounts with. Duh.
The lengths some people will go to cheat another of their hard earned money is unbelievable.
I'm glad you got off lightly.
I get those, too.
The sad thing is, sometimes I really think my bank is robbing me blind without frauds like this.
I think they copy whole paragraphs from literary works and paste them in the body of the e-mail to somehow get around the spam detector scans. I get information about junk stocks in the same manner... always with prose attached.
I get those a lot too. It's called phishing and some of them look very authentic. What your bank told you is true of pretty much every financial institution - they will never ask for that sort of info in an email.
Mike
Clever girl!
One of my online financial institutions made it clear to me how to avoid scams using their name: they said that every correspondence from them would include my name in the salutation. So now I am automatically suspicious of any e-mail I get that starts off with "Dear Valued (financial institution name) Customer..." Just as you did from NBB&T (NOT BB&T!).
Good instincts, there, lady!
CAUTION: These "phishers" are getting more sophisticated. Just by clicking on their site, they can place a Trojan on your computer to capture your keystrokes when you access your real banking account. Hopefully, your virus software and firewalls will stay ahead of the phishers' capabilities and prevent that from happening. Just be careful as you were.
So glad you caught it before you did any damage. These guys make me sick. And it's only going to get worse.
I'm so glad you didn't fall into that abyss. Too many unsuspecting people have lost a lot due to these scams/scum.
I'm so glad you didn't fall into that abyss. Too many unsuspecting people have lost a lot due to these scams/scum.
I have received that email dozens of times...and I'm not even a BB&T customer, so I figured they were fraudulent. I've seen similar emails claiming to be from PayPal as well. I'm glad you didn't fall for it.
It is scary when these emails that look Sooo official come to you and ask for information that the actual company/business would not.
I have gotten a few of those over the years and luckily, like you Judy, it didn't feel right to me...So, I called the business---in the first case it was Amazon.com.....and the scammers wanted my Credit Card info...!
Have you been getting those spammer letters about inheriting HUGE money from someone in Africa, etc.? Unbelievable....!
We get those all the time. Even from banks we never heard of. Anyway, anytime we get one with our bank's logo, I print it off and when I have a chance, take it to our bank and let them have it. Apparently, they have a bunch of crack detectives that know how to get back to the source.
Our spam blocker catches several them, too.
Oh, the grammar, spelling and syntax are often good for a laugh.
This happens everywhere... I've received e-mails like this, even frauds saying they were from the telephone company... with logos and all.
That is really scary!
I am glad you didn't click and that you took a copy to the bank.
Great heads-up, Judy. They're getting more clever, and we'll just have to stay on our toes.
~S
these thieves are so unscrupulous.
michele sent me this time.
Post a Comment