Don’t get caught by ‘phishing’

THERE is currently a renewed bout of e-mails from fraudsters purporting to represent FNB trying to get access to confidential banking information, and FNB issued a warning late last year to e-mail recipients in this regard.

FNB cautioned customers in a statement late December about these fraudsters, adding that the most common way in which such fraud is committed is by ‘phishing’.
‘Phishing’ happens via e-mail request, luring customers to a fake website or infecting their computers with Trojan viruses that record and send sensitive information – such as online banking usernames and passwords – to these cyber-criminals.
FNB’s Online Banking Manager, Kathleen Nel, said that the fraudsters pretended to represent a legitimate company or a bank, and would ask for confidential financial and personal information, such as user names, passwords and credit card account numbers.
She assured that Internet banking remained the safest and most cost-effective way to transact, and added that fraud attempts of this kind were only successful when recipients responded.
She appealed to FNB customers not to respond to mails that requested personal and financial information. The most recent flurry of mail frauds purports to inform that one’s account has been compromised and requests you to enter or confirm account information.
Such mails, she emphasised, should not be responded to, as FNB would never ask customers for sensitive information via e-mail.
When in doubt, recipients of such mails or persons who suspect their confidential information has been compromised should contact the FNB helpdesk at 299 2187.