Barclays/Halifax/NatWest etc Bank Scam Email Phishing

The Barclays scam is similar to a scheme targeting Citibank customers that did the rounds last month (prompting a warning from Citibank), which is itself similar to numerous frauds targeting users of eBay, PayPal and other large ecommerce firms in the past. However, the prevalence of the Barclays scam emails is something slightly out of the ordinary. Its worth remembering that the scam doesn't rely on compromising a targeted organisation's systems.

We can expect similar scams in the future. Users should routinely ignore such emails or risk becoming the victim of identity theft, one of the fastest growing Net crimes.

The scam emails:

There's this one...

"[Barclays] Dear Valued Customer,

- Our new security system will help you to avoid
frequently fraud transactions and to keep your
investments in safety.
- Due to technical update we recommend you to
reactivate your account.
Click on the link below to login and begin using
your updated Barclays account.
To log into your account, please visit the NetBank
website at http://www.barclays.co.uk
If you have questions about your online statement,
please send us a Bank Mail or call us at
0846 600 2323 (outside the UK dial +44 247 686 2063).
We appreciate your business. It's truly our
pleasure to serve you.
Barclays Customer Care
This email is for notification only. To contact us,
please log into your account and send a Bank Mail."

More entertainment value:

Dear Customer - In connection with hard increase of fraud level for the last month The Co-operative Bank p.l.c. takes preventive actions on struggle with fraud and to increase the safety of our clients. Bank is implementing new measures of protection of your accounts which will exclude an opportunity of fulfilment of illegitimate transactions.

For activation of changes we ask you to proceed under the link below (blah blah) and log on to your bank account.

Or what about this one? (schock horror...)

"Hello dear client Barclays Bank.
Today our system of safety at night has been cracked!!!
It not a joke!!! It is the truth!!!
We ask you, in order to prevent problems, to repeat
registration of your data. Make it very quickly!
Administration Barclays Bank."

(Oh dear...frankly, if you are taken in by this one, you really shouldn't have a bank account in the first case, or be allowed near sharp objects)

[Natwest]

Dear Valued Customer,

- Our new security system will help you to avoid
frequently fraud transactions and to keep your
investments in safety.
- Due to technical update we recommend you to
reactivate your account.
Click on the link below to login and begin using
your updated NatWest account.
To log into your account, please visit the NatWest Online Banking
https://www.nwolb.com/ [this actually linked to IP address http://64.174.108.131/ (don't click)]
If you have questions about your online statement,
please send us a Bank Mail or call us at
0846 600 2323 (outside the UK dial +44 247 686 2063).
We appreciate your business. It's truly our
pleasure to serve you.
Natwest Customer Care
This email is for notification only. To contact us,
please log into your account and send a Bank Mail.

OR [Barclays] Dear Sir/Madam,

Barclays Bank PLC. always look forward for the high security of our clients. Some customers have been receiving an email claiming to be from Barclays advising them to follow a link to what appear to be a Barclays web site, where they are prompted to enter their personal Online Banking details. Barclays is in no way involved with this email and the web site does not belong to us.

Barclays is proud to announce about (sic) their new updated secure system. We updated our new SSL servers to give our customers a better, fast and secure online banking service.

Due to the recent update of the servers, you are requested to please update your account info at the following link.

*Important*
We have asked few additional information which is going to be the part of secure login process. These additional information will be asked during your future login security so, please provide all these info completely and correctly otherwise due to security reasons we may have to close your account temporarily.

J. S. Smith
Security Advisor
Barclays Bank PLC.
(Mr Smith didn't do very well at english judging by his grammmur)

Dear Barclays customer. Please read this message and follow it's instructions (sic)

Confirm Your Identity:
We are performing maintenance, which may interfere with access to your Online Services. Due to these technical updates your online account has been flagged (?) and we must confirm that you are the rightful owner of the account. To Confirm Your Identity click the link below, Please make sure you do this in a timely fashion as we look forward of bringing you updates regularly

Full stops and capital letters left 'as received'.

OR (lottery angle)

Dear Sir/Madam,

Barclays Bank PLC. has conducted a country wide lottery. Each two weeks, one hundred lucky Barclays customers will win from up to 100 to 1000 GBP!

We have randomly selected you for our prize offerings! This is official Barclays mail, and none of your personal information is required to redeem this cash prize!

Simply follow the link below and login to your account to automatically apply and update for cash.

Dear Halifax Bank Account Holder,

Your Online security has been our first priority because we know your past online banking experience. We are keeping an eye on every transactions (?) to make sure your online banking is secured and to monitor every unauthorized access into your internet banking.

Your access to Online Services has been suspended due to a miss-match (sic) of access code between your Security information. To re-activate your account, you can call our hot line Live Support: (08457) 555 555 or better still following the quick reactivation reference below.

Important Notice: Note that you (sic) Security Question and Answer is highly required for proper re-activation of your account, in order to avoid service suspension. (duh).

OR A GOOD ONE PRETENDING TO BE EGG (GETS AWARD FOR LONGEST SENTENCE IN THE BAD GRAMMAR CATEGORY)

Dear Customer,

We are currently upgrading our online banking services and due to the process of this service, we sincerely call your attention to follow below link to reconfirm your online card account details hence failure to confirm the online banking details may leads to temporarily suspended you from acessing your online account.