Day 169: Scamming
So what I am annoyed about today is the constant constant attempts from evil HSBC lookalike sites sending me emails in an attempt to scam me out of my log in details. I feel harassed and targetted and they are so very sneaky. I am very careful and I know not to follow links from emails from my bank - HSBC are, despite my previous issues with them, good at telling you not to link from emails and that they will never ask you certain information. But I do click on the links to see how near to being convinced I might be if I wasn't so careful. Last week there was one from a mock up of the site and the url was hsbc.uk.co... very sneaky. Today's scam was 2 emails to tell me that my account had been locked due to too many failed log ins... it said...
Dear HSBC Online User,
We regret to inform you that access to your online account has been locked.
This happened because of too many failed log-in attempts.
To restore your online account access you can:
1. Visit your local branch and complete the Unlock My Account form (takes several days)
2. Complete the Unlock My Account form online, by downloading and completing the attached form (instant)
Quality service and the security of your account are of great importance to us.
We appreciate each opportunity to serve you.
Sincerely,
Customer Service
Please do not reply to this e-mail.
Copyright © HSBC Bank plc 2002 - 2010
From the email sender HSBC and then 10 mins later one from HSBC Bank saying basically the same thing but slightly more urgent saying
Dear HSBC Bank Customer,
Your Internet Banking security code was entered incorrectly more than 3 times.
For the protection of your account we have suspended access to it.
To restore access please Log In correctly.
Previous notifications have been sent.
Thank you for choosing HSBC Bank UK..
Copyright HSBC Bank UK PLC 2010. All rights reserved.
So the link on the second sends me to a mock up of the site... at not the right address and the other gives me a nice attachment to download where I can enter all my important log in information and send it off to them. Ewwwww. It makes me feel horrid that people are just out there to scam you...and it makes everyone so cautious of everyone else. I hate getting those phonecalls when the bank call you on your home phone but they can't talk to you in case its not you and you don't want to talk to them in case its not them...
Anyway... they're not that clever... If they really did their homework they could find out within 2 minutes that I PUBLISH MY BANK BALANCE here on my blog and THEY WONT GET RICH BY ACCESS TO MY ACCOUNT!!!!!
Anyway... they're not that clever... If they really did their homework they could find out within 2 minutes that I PUBLISH MY BANK BALANCE here on my blog and THEY WONT GET RICH BY ACCESS TO MY ACCOUNT!!!!!
Tesco card £1366.49 D... I just paid off a nice £200 on it. More to come!!
Hi Mandy,
ReplyDeleteMatt here on one of my occasional reads of your blog.
If you want to help fight online crime, send all those sorts of emails to phishing@hsbc.com.
There are a team of people who run around tackling those pesky sites and trying to take them offline before our customers get conned, and by sending the emails through we are able to respond quickly.
There is also useful information about online security here -> http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/online-security
In particular, look for part of the address bar in your (up to date) browser turning green if you are on the proper secure site,
As a HSBC customer you are also eligible for 12 months free McAfee security software, and we also offer customers something called "Trusteer" which provides some protection against counterfeit sites - again its free.
See https://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/online-security/security-software for these.
OK, so maybe some of the above is a shameless plug for HSBC, but Internet security is really important and the more people who read this post and learn something new, the less chance those fraudsters have of getting their dirty mitts on your cash.
Thanks Matt - yes I meant to say I had done that...and was really glad that I could send them off somewhere. I hate how easy it would be to scam someone and did think before I knew you could do that that surely there must be a way to report them... they have web hosting so they must be somehow trackable to some level - at least to closing down the hosting or something... so yes phishing@hsbc.com have had a few forwards from me today!
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