Watch out for fraudulent emails

A common type of email fraud is ‘phishing’ where fraudsters send bogus emails that try to trick the people who receive them into revealing their Passwords and Security Numbers.

We will never send emails asking for personal security information. If you do receive an email asking for your security details you should resist the temptation to reply or follow the instructions in the email. Do nothing, even if the email suggests that you need to take immediate action to stop your account being frozen or indicates that you may incur a financial penalty.Do not respond to the email.

Be very careful if you receive an email from an unknown or dubious source. Be especially cautious if these emails contain attachments.

Fraudsters send emails which appear to come from the Bank in order to persuade you to enter your security details into a bogus website. Their aim is then to use your security details to remove money from your accounts. Additional information is available at this website: www.antiphishing.org

Don’t be taken in by email cons

Phishing is not the only way that criminals try to use email for fraud. Email has been used to make job offers, recruit people for money laundering and trick people into visiting sites that exploit weaknesses in their computer to download Trojans.

Don’t be persuaded by convincing emails offering you the chance to make easy money. If an offer sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

Check the security of eCommerce sites

Secure website addresses usually start with the letters https: and display a padlock icon in the bottom section of your Internet browser. While these are good indicators that you are visiting a genuine site there have been cases where criminals have been able to recreate these features on their spoof sites.

As a result, it can be risky to rely entirely on the padlock icon. If, however, you double click the padlock icon a box will appear whichcontains details of the site owners and helps you to establish whether it is genuine.

Log-out properly when you’ve finished with a secure site

Never leave your computer unattended when logged in to a secure session such as when you are using Coutts Online banking.
Ensure you log-out properly when you have finished banking online or using any secure site.

Exercise caution when using computers in public places

As you cannot be certain about the security of a computer in a public place such as a library or Internet café you should be careful if you have to use such a machine. If you have any reason to be suspicious about a public computer you should not use it to access services such as Online banking.