The frequency of internet fraud cases is due to scammers learning to create high-quality fake banking sites. To lure victims to these sites, they also create similar fake emails.
How to Protect Against Fake Banking Sites
Scammers create fake banking sites to extract personal information about cards, passwords, identifications, and security from victims. To ensure the victim lands on the required site, the scammer follows them with fake emails.
Notifications are sent to email or SMS messages offering very:
- attractive offers;
- promotions;
- discounts.
Additionally, a link to a site is attached, and upon clicking this link, the user is prompted to enter their personal details to receive a discount, win a prize, or make a deposit on favorable terms. This way, the scammer obtains card information, allowing them to use it for transferring money and stealing finances from the victim's card.
Therefore, no matter how interesting it might be to check out an unknown link, the best way to protect against fake banking sites is caution and ignoring unknown messages from unknown sources.
Signs of a Fake Banking Email
When receiving a message, you should:
- pay attention to the links sent or who the message is from;
- usually, everyone has banking apps on their phone from the bank;
- messages are received in apps, so do not immediately click on links received in apps.
- a bank letter with screaming advertising or a promotion may be fake and created to attract attention and make the victim click on the sent link immediately.
If you have clicked on a link, pay attention to how the address is written and how the bank's site looks. If you feel any discrepancies, it is better to leave the site and call the bank to find out if the bank is conducting any promotions and if they indeed sent out special mailings.
Scammers and Banking Sites
To create a fake banking site, scammers need to study information. Therefore, they are present on banking sites studying the amount of advertising, and the style of design.
These moments help them create fake sites as close as possible to the originals, except that on this site the user will need to register and to activate a service, it requires:
- entering personal information,
- card number,
- password, PIN code, and other card attributes.
Scammers try to extract as much information as possible to use it to steal money from those who believed and fell for these sites.
Fake Emails from Banks
Scammers constantly send fake emails from banks to find as many potential victims as possible in the hope that a user will be inattentive and believe the provided information.
The specified amount urgently needs to be paid, otherwise, the victim may face legal proceedings, arrest, or sanctions. In a state of panic, people may make rash decisions, perceiving these emails as reality, and transfer money believing they are fully paying off a debt.
Such information is largely aimed at people who are disoriented and panicked and made an unconsidered decision. Scammers, with well-developed intuition and psychological skills in working with people, know how to use this, a method known as social engineering.
Protecting Finances from Scammers
To ensure the protection of finances from scammers, you need to adhere to certain rules:
- verify who sent emails or messages;
- be attentive and cautious;
- learn financial literacy to understand the truthfulness of the information provided;
- it doesn't hurt to enable two-factor authentication, which provides additional protection for personal data, keeping access codes, PINs, and passwords;
- store information on password and codes in a safe place, also periodically updating them;
- after receiving emails from banking institutions, go not by the link but to the official site or contact a bank manager to confirm or refute the information;
- it is not recommended to follow unknown and unfamiliar links, also to secure your finances.
How to Recognize a Fake Banking Site
When on a site, you need to check if it is fake by paying attention to:
- whether there is a secure connection via https;
- the presence of a closed lock icon;
- the site does not provide contact information;
- a large number of errors;
- an unfinished design with outdated images;
- the logo may be slightly altered;
- when visiting the site, you may notice that there is no user agreement;
- there are no payments or deliveries;
- there are constantly popping up windows requesting personal information;
- a huge amount of advertising products.