Possible HSBC dodgy e-mail?

[Phooey]

Hi, just received this e-mail in my junk-folder -


Irregular Card Activity

We detected irregular activity on your HSBC Card on 25/05/2010.

For your protection, you must verify this activity before you can continue using your card.

Please download the file attached to this email , fill out the information required to
review your account and press continue. We will review the activity on your account with
you and upon verification,we will remove any restrictions placed on your account.

Want to get more alerts? Sign in to your internet banking account at HSBC Bank
and within the Accounts Overview page select the "Alerts" tab.

Because email is not a secure form of communication, this email box is not equipped to handle replies.

If you have any questions about your account or need assistance,
please call the phone number on your statement or go to Contact Us at www.hsbc.co.uk.



Now obviously i have not downloaded this attached file (www.ebank...html (22.0kb) ) but am unsure as to if this is a genuine link or not. Including business account, ISA's e.t.c. i have 5 different accounts with HSBC, but have not yet used internet banking - HSBC know my e-mail address though.

Once i get to work, i will ring HSBC - any ideas which department to call?

Ta

[E31Shrew]

If its the same as Barclaycard there is normally a number on the back of the card...Wouldnt think they would alert you via email!

[ALittleEXcited]

There's no obvious clickable links for phishing purposes... did the hsbc.co.uk link actually link to the hsbc website or was it a copy hosted elsewhere?

Safe bet is to call the customer service number from their main website and check.

[softtop]

when there was an instance of irregular activity with my account they phoned. This is unlikely to be real.

[SGirl]

Just check the mailto address and/or originating address. It'll almost certainly not have anything to do with HSBC.

Banks never send out mail like this because they know how phishing works. They'll phone or send you a letter if they're concerned about your account. I'd leave it in the Junk folder and forget about it.

[Phooey]

Thanks all for the advice. Yes, there is a number on the back of the card - i have 3 different cards issued by HSBC, and each has a different contact number.

The link in the e-mail *did* link me to the HSBC website.

When i used my business card last year for a couple of large purchases, HSBC called my mobile within approx 30mins to verify the amount - so, yes sending an e-mail does sound fishy.

I will phone HSBC to be on the safe side, i will let you all know what they say.

[Phooey]

Ok, called HSBC Premier. This is certainly a scam - the lady i spoke to said HSBC do not hold my e-mail address on file! I thought they did, as i had received HSBC e-mails before
Luckily i have never responded to any HSBC e-mail before. I still do not use internet banking - i would rather do it via telephone banking, and after this, will certainly continue to do so
I was given an e-mail address to forward this e-mail onto - [e-mail] - unfortunately though i keep getting a delivery status notification failure -

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

[e-mail]


Tried this 3 times now

[softtop]

Phooey said:

I still do not use internet banking - i would rather do it via telephone banking, and after this, will certainly continue to do so

You are missing a trick, on line is very good and far more beneficial than the telephone service. Do not let one fake email change your perception of a great (secure) service.

[Phooey]

softtop said:

Phooey said:

I still do not use internet banking - i would rather do it via telephone banking, and after this, will certainly continue to do so

You are missing a trick, on line is very good and far more beneficial than the telephone service. Do not let one fake email change your perception of a great (secure) service.

Your probably right, my accountant keeps telling me i am going to *have* to use internet banking soon for IR payments. Think i need to look into it.

[softtop]

just checked. it is .com and your head will not be so sore

[Phooey]

softtop said:

just checked. it is .com and your head will not be so sore

Top man. Cheers Stuart, never thought of that. It's worked - HSBC have just sent me a confirmation e-mail - hopefully they will now be able to take some kind of action r.e. the original sender of this scam.

[SGirl]

Phooey said:

The link in the e-mail *did* link me to the HSBC website.

It probably linked you to something that looked like the HSBC website.

[DeputyDawg]

Phooey said:

Hi, just received this e-mail in my junk-folder -

The answer was in the first line.

I had 3 emails this morning relating to the same thing from HSBC, Halifax and Santander (all in my Junk Folder).

I don't have an account with any of them so quite easy to work out.

[Phooey]

SGirl said:

Phooey said:

The link in the e-mail *did* link me to the HSBC website.

It probably linked you to something that looked like the HSBC website.

It was this bit here -

if you have any questions about your account or need assistance,
please call the phone number on your statement or go to Contact Us at www.hsbc.co.uk.


The link was not click-able in the original e-mail, but *was* when i copied and pasted it into my original post - so i may have confused the question asked by AlittleEXcited. The e-mail did though contain a document to download - which obviously i did not.

[Phooey]

DeputyDawg said:

Phooey said:

Hi, just received this e-mail in my junk-folder -

The answer was in the first line.

I had 3 emails this morning relating to the same thing from HSBC, Halifax and Santander (all in my Junk Folder).

I don't have an account with any of them so quite easy to work out.

This was the reason i did not respond to the e-mail, might of slipped up if it had of been within my inbox though!
I have received numerous e-mails from Egg and Barclays over the past few months - i bank with neither of these so obviously ignored them.

[otolith]

Phooey said:

Please download the file attached to this email , fill out the information required to
review your account and press continue.

This is the scary bit. Was there an attachment? You didn't run it and enter your bank details, did you?

[Phooey]

otolith said:

Phooey said:

Please download the file attached to this email , fill out the information required to
review your account and press continue.

This is the scary bit. Was there an attachment? You didn't run it and enter your bank details, did you?

Absolutely not, something didn't seem right so i ignored the attachment.

The attachment was at the top of the e-mail. I have copied and pasted below -

To:

Attachments: 1 attachment
www.ebank...html (22.0 KB)

If for any reason anyone thinks i should edit this post to remove this link, let me know - i will do so immediately.

ETA appears the link/attachment is not viewable/clickable by PH viewers anyway

Edited by Phooey on Monday 14th June 10:53

[Gareth79]

The attachment was either just a straightforward form to get the details requested (card number, security code etc), or it was an trojan of some sort which would have captured your online account login details.

[Phooey]

Gareth79 said:

The attachment was either just a straightforward form to get the details requested (card number, security code etc), or it was an trojan of some sort which would have captured your online account login details.

What worries me is how easy it would be for someone to actually fall for this, possibly resulting in them having their accounts wiped clean