How to recognise attempted fraud 

Email phishing of electronic customer identifiers and bank account details

Fraudulent messages trying to get hold of bank customers’ electronic identifiers, commonly referred to as phishing, are known to circulate from time to time. The messages are often masked to look like a legitimate message from the customer service and addressed directly to the customer.

Any telephone or email messages asking for your electronic identifiers are highly likely to be a scam. For example, banks, the police, insurance companies or other authorities never ask for electronic customer identifiers over the phone or by email. The same applies to other confidential information related to banking, such as bank account or credit card numbers.

You should never answer a message that appears to be a scam. Such messages should be deleted without opening, as malware can be loaded from an opened page. In addition, if you suspect you may have given your electronic identifiers into the wrong hands, you should immediately contact your own bank’s customer service or the bank code revocation service.

You may receive foreign emails in English with an investment offer or a request for assistance with exporting foreign currency. The sender may ask you for your bank account number or a small initial contribution. These email messages are generally scams. You should not respond to them, but rather destroy them immediately. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation publishes warnings of such scams on their website.

Links may lead to a phony website

There may be attempts to mislead customers by including a link in the email message or the website with a seemingly legitimate address, which nevertheless directs you to another address. For example, a link of an email message or an enclosure may look like an SSL-protected https-site but, in fact, lead to an unprotected site.

For more information on the security of online banking, please refer to the links to the right.

24 October 2011