With the recent crisis of Northern Rock, customers of banks are in a general state of nervousness, wondering what bank will be next ? Generally, do they have to worry about where they have invested their money.
As customers may be in state of panic regarding their funds they may be prepared to do things they might not do otherwise to ensure their money is secure.
Over the last two weeks we have seen phishing emails playing on this fear by including statements “to assure you that your accounts and your assets are safe with us” and making all efforts to comply with the “requirements of the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) “.
As of yet, we have not seen any phishing emails supposedly originating from Northern Rock, this email purports to be from HSBC Bank.
See below for the text of the phishing email.
Every week, we see the quality of the phishing email text and grammar improving, making phishing emails more believable
The email itself, is extremely well written and does not contain the usual spelling mistakes, making it harder for the readers to distinguish what is real and what is not.
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO HSBC CUSTOMERS
Dear HSBC Bank Plc customer
I want to assure you that your accounts and your assets are safe with us,
and that we put the utmost value on our relationship with you.
As part of our efforts to meet the requirements of the United Kingdom
Financial Services Authority (FSA), we now ask all HSBC users to verify
their account information. It's a smart and simple way to add an additional
level of protection to your account.
Here's How it works :
* [1]Click here to securely log on.
* Complete our quick and simple form.
* Continue with your account session.
We may periodically ask you to provide information in HSBC Online as a quick identity check. That way, when you drop in to do business, we'll know it's you.
Thank you for your continued patronage.
Jarrett Lilien
Jarrett Lilien
President, COO and Director, HSBC Bank Plc
Issued for UK use only | © HSBC Bank plc 2002-2007