Symptoms
You receive an e-mail with the subject: "You have one new Security Message." The e-mail is from your bank, and requires you to click a link to update your security information. Clicking the link takes you to what looks like your bank’s website, where you enter your login details. You may need to answer various other questions that require you to reveal further information, such as credit card numbers.
Prognosis
This is a phishing attempt. In such attempts, the sender purports to be a bank, an online payment site such as PayPal, or even eBay. The link is manipulated to look like the site’s link and connects to a spoofed website that looks like the original. The subject of the e-mail usually plays on security concerns or information updates. Phishing via SMS on your mobile device (SMSishing) is also gaining momentum – watch out for that.
Prevention
Never follow such links in e-mails. To confirm whether your bank has sent that e-mail, call the customer care number (again, not phone numbers given in the e-mail). You could also type the website’s URL in the Address Bar or pick it from your Favorites list, to see if there is any information on the site about such an e-mail being sent. Banks do not send customers e-mail or SMS to ask for sensitive information like passwords and the like.
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