iCAN Warning: Barclays bank email scam

[Soner]

An iCAN member has reported a suspicious email, supposedly sent by Barclays and asking for the completion of a form to assist with security measures for online banking. The email says ‘If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choice but to temporary hold on your funds’. This is not a genuine email and you should not provide the information requested.
This is known as phishing – emails are sent at random and claim to come from a reputable company such as your bank. The emails attempt to trick people into disclosing sensitive information at a bogus website (phishing site) operated by fraudsters. These emails usually claim that it is necessary to ‘update’ or ‘verify’ your customer account information and they urge you to click on a link in the email which takes you to a phishing site or on a form attached to the email. Any information entered on the phishing site or form will be used by the criminals for their own fraudulent purposes.
If you think you've fallen victim to online fraud on your Barclays account, call them straight away on 0845 600 2323.
If you've received a suspicious email that claims to be from Barclays, please forward it to internetsecurity@barclays.co.uk (Link opens in a new window) and then delete the email immediately.
To protect yourself following these tips:
• Be suspicious if the email addresses you in vague terms like ‘Dear Valued Customer’.
• Never log in to your online bank account having clicked on a link in an email. If you want to log in to your online bank account, you should open your internet browser and type the bank's web address in yourself.
• Be suspicious if you are asked to ‘confirm’ or ‘update’ your password or any personal information by clicking on a link and visiting a website - banks will never email you to request that you do this.
• Treat all unsolicited emails with caution and never click on links from such emails and enter any personal information
• If in doubt about the validity of an email, or if you think that you may have disclosed information to a fraudulent site, contact your bank immediately on their advertised number.
For general consumer advice ring the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 04 05 06 or visit http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
Please note that all of our iCAN messages can be found in a directory at this link http://www.warrington.gov.uk/ican and are in flyer format so that you can print them off and circulate to friends and family. You can search the directory using keywords or open one of the five categories that we have listed.
http://www.tswarrington.co.uk
email: tradingstandards@warrington.gov.uk

[suehowlittle]

Good warning. Many thanks Soner

I have had several of these from Barclays, and a couple from National Westminster - the scammers are getting desperate, also emails purporting to come from UPS and the Inland Revenue and Paypal are coming in thick and fast.

Delete anything you are uncertain about, the banks - Inland Revenue etc do NOT email people.

[Deniz1]

My daughter in the UK said that there is another one doing the rounds purporting to come from the Halifax asking the same questions.

[Deniz1]

She has just had another from Nat West.

[sophie]

The Barclays letter has been dropping into my inbox for nearly two years now. R.B.of Scotland and even Paypal have been very suspicious for 6 months or more.

[paddywack]

No financial institution or government office will contact you by email to ask for your details.
If anyone does it is a scam, delete without opening.

[Lovelife]

In the last 2-3 weeks I have received emails from PayPal and Amazon, both suspicious.

LL

[Col]

"Delete anything you are uncertain about, the banks - Inland Revenue etc do NOT email people."

The banks do send emails advertising products, In fact for a number of years the Co op bank sent out emails which allowed you to log on after clicking links on the page. I was complaining for the whole time that they were doing this that they were playing into the scammers hands sending out genuine emails that allowed logging on from the email.
They have stopped now but it was not helping the situation.

[Soner]

Posted on behalf of Carole:

iCAN Warning: PayPal email scam

An iCAN member has reported a suspicious email, supposedly sent by PayPal asking her to verify her account. The email states ‘A failure to verify your records may result on a suspension of your account.’ This is not a genuine email.
This is known as phishing – emails are sent at random and claim to come from a reputable company such as a bank. The emails attempt to trick people into disclosing sensitive information at a bogus website (phishing site) operated by fraudsters. These emails usually claim that it is necessary to ‘update’ or ‘verify’ your customer account information and they urge you to click on a link in the email which takes you to a phishing site or on a form attached to the email. Any information entered on the phishing site or form will be used by the criminals for their own fraudulent purposes.
If you believe you've received a phishing email from PayPal, follow these steps right away
1. Forward the entire email to spoof@paypal.com
2. Do not alter the subject line or forward the message as an attachment.
3. Delete the suspicious email from your email account.
PayPal will send you an email response to let you know if the email is indeed fraudulent. In the meantime, don't click on any links or download any attachments within the suspicious email.
Phishing emails often pretend to be from a bank or official organisation such as HMRC. To protect yourself follow these tips:
• Be suspicious if the email addresses you in vague terms like ‘Dear Valued Customer’.
• Never log in to your online account having clicked on a link in an email. If you want to log in to your online account, you should open your internet browser and type the organisation or bank's web address in yourself.
• Be suspicious if you are asked to ‘confirm’ or ‘update’ your password or any personal information by clicking on a link and visiting a website - banks will never email you to request that you do this.
• Treat all unsolicited emails with caution and never click on links from such emails and enter any personal information
• If in doubt about the validity of an email, or if you think that you may have disclosed information to a fraudulent site, contact your bank or the organisation that appears to have sent the email immediately on their advertised number.

[Owl Lady]

bttt thanks Soner

[mickhm]

Unfortunately HMRC do e-mail you. I have been trying to register on line for self assessment for 2 years cos they want me to do a self assessment. They do, however start their email noreply@hmrc.gov.uk so you cannot reply. God I hate the tax man