Ansett
24 November 2005, 15:11
A statement from the Scotiabank website
- you can find the original here (http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID8122_LIDen,00.html)
Phishing Scams
"Phishing" is the name given to the kind of identity theft that attempts to persuade its victims to fill out an online form or respond to an email with details of their bank accounts, credit card numbers, passwords and other personal information. People can be fooled into doing this when they believe that they are reconfirming information needed by a reputable institution with which they are doing business.
November 16, 2005 Update:
Scotiabank will never send you unsolicited emails asking for confidential information, such as your password, PIN, credit card and account numbers. We will never ask you to validate or restore your account access through email.
There are fraudulent emails that appear to have been sent by Canadian banks including Scotiabank. Please do not respond to emails asking you to verify confidential information by clicking on a link in the email. The link leads to a modified webpage that looks like a Scotiabank webpage asking customers to validate personal information such as their bank card number, password and PIN.
Report any suspicious requests to Scotiabank immediately at 1-800-4-SCOTIA.
Do not respond to emails or web sites requesting personal information.
Here are a few other practices that will assist you in avoiding these scams:
Recognition
Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information.
An unexpected web site, web page or email appearing to be from a legitimate company (such as Scotiabank) may try to entice you to provide your personal information by claiming to verify security information or account details, possibly to avoid interruption of a service.
Phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately. (ie. threatening to discontinue access, or close an account)
They typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.
Phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, while valid messages generally are. In addition, many phisher emails contain spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Ensure that you are on a legitimate web page, examine the name after "https://" or "http://" and make sure that it is a recognized domain name. For example, the Scotia OnLine Sign-on page always starts with "www.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com/". Exact spelling is important - any slightest deviation from this would indicate a suspicious site.
To access Scotia OnLine, always type out the address "www.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com".
Actions
Don't use the links in an email to get to any web page, if you suspect the message might not be authentic.
If you do have a relationship with the company mentioned in the email, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web address in your browser.
Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information.
You should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website.
If you are concerned that you may have received a fraudulent email or disclosed confidential information regarding your Scotiabank account, please contact Scotiabank immediately at
1-800-4-SCOTIA (1-800-472-6842).
Please follow Safe Computing Practices (http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID7765_LIDen,00.html) to help protect your information.
© scotiabank.com
Quoted here by Fraudwatchers.org for the convenience of people new to the internet and/or in the process of being scammed.
- you can find the original here (http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID8122_LIDen,00.html)
Phishing Scams
"Phishing" is the name given to the kind of identity theft that attempts to persuade its victims to fill out an online form or respond to an email with details of their bank accounts, credit card numbers, passwords and other personal information. People can be fooled into doing this when they believe that they are reconfirming information needed by a reputable institution with which they are doing business.
November 16, 2005 Update:
Scotiabank will never send you unsolicited emails asking for confidential information, such as your password, PIN, credit card and account numbers. We will never ask you to validate or restore your account access through email.
There are fraudulent emails that appear to have been sent by Canadian banks including Scotiabank. Please do not respond to emails asking you to verify confidential information by clicking on a link in the email. The link leads to a modified webpage that looks like a Scotiabank webpage asking customers to validate personal information such as their bank card number, password and PIN.
Report any suspicious requests to Scotiabank immediately at 1-800-4-SCOTIA.
Do not respond to emails or web sites requesting personal information.
Here are a few other practices that will assist you in avoiding these scams:
Recognition
Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information.
An unexpected web site, web page or email appearing to be from a legitimate company (such as Scotiabank) may try to entice you to provide your personal information by claiming to verify security information or account details, possibly to avoid interruption of a service.
Phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately. (ie. threatening to discontinue access, or close an account)
They typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.
Phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, while valid messages generally are. In addition, many phisher emails contain spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Ensure that you are on a legitimate web page, examine the name after "https://" or "http://" and make sure that it is a recognized domain name. For example, the Scotia OnLine Sign-on page always starts with "www.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com/". Exact spelling is important - any slightest deviation from this would indicate a suspicious site.
To access Scotia OnLine, always type out the address "www.scotiaonline.scotiabank.com".
Actions
Don't use the links in an email to get to any web page, if you suspect the message might not be authentic.
If you do have a relationship with the company mentioned in the email, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web address in your browser.
Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information.
You should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website.
If you are concerned that you may have received a fraudulent email or disclosed confidential information regarding your Scotiabank account, please contact Scotiabank immediately at
1-800-4-SCOTIA (1-800-472-6842).
Please follow Safe Computing Practices (http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID7765_LIDen,00.html) to help protect your information.
© scotiabank.com
Quoted here by Fraudwatchers.org for the convenience of people new to the internet and/or in the process of being scammed.