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Abbey National Bank Email Scam - Phishing for Your Identity

Phishing and Vishing Identity Theft Scams
The Abbey National Bank Email Scam
Redirects to spoofed (Fake) website: www.abbey-logon.com

You may have received an email like the one below that looks very authentic, like it came from Abbey National Bank, or a phone call about the same subject. It is an attempt to get you to enter confidential information (typically a passport, NIH or other identification number, name, address, bank account information, etc., to allow the scammers to steal your identity and open credit cards in your name.

This email was not sent by Abbey National Bank; Abbey National Bank is a victim as well. This is referred to as "phishing" (when by email) or "vishing" (when by telephone). If you receive an email similar to the one below, DO NOT click on the link, and do not enter any information on the forms there.

The website that the link leads to is a spoof; a fake website, not created by Abbey National Bank. It goes to www.abbey-logon.com, not Abbey National Bank! When you enter the information they ask for, you will simply be handing the thieves the keys to your bank accounts.  That is how spoofing, phishing and vishing works.

Remember, no reputable business would send you an email or a phone call requesting your personal account information. Any such email you receive asking for this information should be considered phony and brought to the attention of the business being 'phished'.

Anytime you need to go to a website for your bank, credit card companies or other personal, financial or confidential information; do not follow a link in an email; just type their address in your browser directly (such as www.Abbey National Bank.com )

Below are actual phishing emails that started circulating in early 2008. We have put a warning over the links to the phisher's website.


Send from: Abbey Personal Banking [ Abbey@security.com ]

Dear United Kingdom Banking Customers Upgrade

Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of your bank
account we have issued this warning message.

It has come to our attention that your Bank account information needs to be
updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account in this year 2009 and to
reduce the instance of fraud on banking websites. If you could please take 5-10 minutes
out of your online experience and update your personal records you will not run into
any future problems with the online service.

Once you have updated your account records your bank account
service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your Bank records
Please Click Here

Thank You.

Accounts Management As outlined in our User Agreement, Your Bank will
periodically send you information about site changes and enhancements.


Investigation and how to report the scam

The "Please click here link" went to http://www.abbey-logon.com/Abbey/Uk/Personal/Banking/security/update/online/Login.do/

You will notice that the domain, www.abbey-logon.com, is not the domain of Abbey National Bank.

Abbey National has a page that explains about this and other phishing scams, excerpted below:

1.         Abbey will never send you an email asking to confirm security questions or update your information.
Abbey will NEVER send you an email asking you to enter your Online Banking details. Whenever you log on or enter you security details, it should always be after you have visited the logon page through abbey.com. When you want to access Abbey ebanking - always type www.abbey.com into the address bar of your browser. Never click on links or pictures in emails, and avoid setting Abbey.com as a favorite in your browser.

2.         When you receive such an email, this is an attempted fraud. This is known as PHISHING (pronounced fishing) as a fraudster is 'fishing' for your security details, to try and log into your account to steal money.
Like most UK banks, Abbey has recently been targeted by Phishing scams, an example of the type of email is given below. You will also see a link to the most recent examples. If you have received a scam email, DO NOT click on any links or pictures, or open any attachments. Instead, please forward it to phishing@abbey.com and help us reduce online fraud.  We cannot guarantee a response to each email, but we will investigate every report.

EXAMPLE PHISHING EMAIL

3.         Fake Websites and Fake Job Offers
Typo-Squatting
- Also referred to as Cyber-Squatting. Spoof websites are set up which look like the genuine bank website. The sites are accessed by typing the bank address with various minor typing errors. For example, instead of www.abbey.com the fraudsters will set up sites at www.abvey.com or www.anbey.com. To avoid being caught by this type of scam you should always type the URL (the website address) into the address bar and check that it is correct before you enter your ebanking details.

Be very wary of emails offering you a job asking you to act as an intermediary to transfer funds, it could be a Mule recruitment scam attempting to get you to launder money for them. If you receive an offer that sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and it could result in having your accounts closed, affecting your credit rating or even prosecution.
Abbey has been made aware of fraudulent offers of employment being made by dishonest people. In these cases applicants are asked to pay a fee in order to be offered a position. Please be aware that Abbey never makes a request for money to be paid by job applicants. All available vacancies at Abbey are viewable at www.jobsatabbey.com If you believe you have received a fraudulent job offer for a position at Abbey, please let us know either by phoning 0870 850 9142 or e-mail: attraction@abbeyresourcing.co.uk

4.         Contact us about Email Scams or Fake Websites
If you have received any scam emails and think that you may have responded to it or given your details out via a different scam, please contact the E-Banking helpdesk on 0845 600 4388 , open 7am-11pm, Monday to Saturday, and 9am-9pm on Sundays.
To forward us a copy of a scam email, always use phishing@abbey.com

More information

For more information about phishing, see this page.