Intelligent Finance Cautions Accountholders about Phishing E-mails

Accountholders with an offset bank in Scotland named Intelligent Finance, unit of The Bank of Scotland have been urged to remain vigilant about e-mails that tell recipients they require making personal online-banking authorization secure, thus published softpedia.com dated February 1, 2013.

Displaying a caption "Secure Your Intelligent Finance Internet Banking Authorization," the fraudulent electronic mail addressing accountholders as 'Dear Valued Customer' tells that there are two vital messages inside the user's inbox waiting to be read. Since several failed attempts have occurred towards logging into his A/C, the user is requested for providing all the details asked within a web-link. Thereafter, the e-mail signs off from Intelligent Finance Bank Security Department, while conveying best of regards.

However, the e-mail isn't linked to Intelligent Finance, nor is it linked to any other genuine bank or financial institution. Rather it's dispatched from cyber-crooks seeking towards duping Internauts into surrendering personal information.

Internet-users, if follow the web-link, get diverted through a redirect onto one hijacked site that harbors a phishing page, which purports to be of Intelligent Finance.

Moreover, when on the site, victims are directed for entering their usernames and passwords, some confidential questions' answers, cell-phone number, plan code and more. Also, soon as these are submitted they land up with the cyber-criminals, while end-users get diverted onto an authentic site, caution security specialists.

Further, bank officials remark that Intelligent Finance won't ever request customers to send, validate alternatively update confidential/personal details such as the above through e-mail/telephone.

Nevertheless, for remaining safe from such phishing electronic mails, it's advisable that Internet-users do the following. 1st, they must enter their online-banking details only via the authorized website of Intelligent Finance and not through web-links inside other web-pages or any e-mail. 2ndly, they must manually enter their bank URL address inside their Web-browser bar rather than click web-links. 3rdly, they must look for grammatical and spelling errors that frequently occur within fraudulent e-mails since the latter commonly emerge from abroad especially East European countries that use English less frequently, and because the errors help the e-mails for easily evading spam-filters. Finally, users must apply twin security passwords that strengthens safeguard.

Related article: Intel & Symantec To Jointly Launch 'Firmware' Security

» SPAMfighter News - 2/6/2013