MetaChat - Does this sound like a phishing scam to you?

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04 January 2012

Does this sound like a phishing scam to you? →[More:]My daughter recently started getting a flood of emails. The emails purport to be from the bank she uses when she's at school. Logo and everything. There's no text explaining what the email is in reference to, other than a few lines saying she needs to open an attachment immediately.

None of her normal bank correspondence ever contains an attachment. It's always a link or just an announcement that her statement is available online.

Said attachment is a password-protected PDF, with her email address as the file name. To open the PDF, she is instructed to enter the password she uses to access her bank account online.

Smell like a phishing scam to you?

post by: Thorzdad at: 19:35 | 10 comments

That sounds so phishy I can smell it from here. Call the bank on the phone and tell them about it.

posted by JanetLand 04 January | 19:38

Absolutely.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 04 January | 19:38

Whenever I read the title of a forum post, anywhere on the intarwhatsis, with the question you posed at the top of this one... My answer, before even reading the actual post is always, YES.

YES YES and YES again.

Never open attachments in cases like this. Contact whoever the post is allegedly from, by phone. From a number not in the email. Better paranoid than broke.

posted by Splunge 04 January | 19:43

Nthing yes. Check the (real) bank's web page for phishing reporting email address and forward to that address too.

posted by bearwife 04 January | 19:44

Well, that's what I thought, too.

Turns out, though, they are real emails from her bank. Apparently she accidentally overdrafted and the bank's method for notifying customers of overdrafts is these phishy emails. I simply cannot believe, in this day and age where the banks themselves preach security, a bank would use such a stupid method. It's almost as if they intend the notices to be deleted as spam.

posted by Thorzdad 04 January | 19:46

Time to change banks.

posted by oneswellfoop 04 January | 19:48

Really fishy. Definitely hit up the bank about it, since I'm sure they'd like to know that someone's spoofing them.

posted by sperose 04 January | 19:51

Your favorite bank sucks.

posted by Ardiril 04 January | 20:19

Yes! I'd never open those either. Talk to the bank! Yeesh.

I don't know if it's a small local bank, but if so, definitely help them out by letting them know what this looks like. I used to get tons of phishing email when I was with Bank of America, but because BoA actaully is pretty slick about communications it was easy to spot the non-secure emails. With my new local small bank, things look a lot more homebuilt, and that can make it harder to discern. They should tighten up their practices!

But if they are a big bank, fuck 'em and move on!

posted by Miko 04 January | 21:43

Semi-big bank. Star Financial.

posted by Thorzdad 04 January | 21:57

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