Simon Wade
CYBER-CRIMINALS posing as Banco Santander officials have been reported stealing the passwords of bank customers by Spain’s Internet Security Office (OSI).
Innocent customers have been known to receive emails with titles such as: “Santander Spain – your account needs attention.”
The recipient is told that their account has not been verified for a long time and that they must click on the button provided to update it.
At this stage, users are obliged to enter their account details and password, which are quickly used to steal cash from unwitting customers’ accounts.
Typically, messages include spelling mistakes that can help find scammers, according to Guardia Civil.
Also, emails don’t address the customer by name, which should raise doubts.
Police authorities have already taken to social media, warning potential victims that believe the email to be legitimate.
Advice is given along with the warnings and images of what the fake emails look like.
The Guardia warn that if you have been a victim of this fraud, it is important that you contact the bank as soon as possible and report it.
They also explain that passwords need changing on the digital services relating to all banking services.
THE OSI website gives some sound advice:
- You should not open emails that come from unknown users or that you have not requested and delete them directly.
- When following links you must be careful, even if we think that it is a safe address.
- Always check the URL of the website, since, if it does not correspond to the official one, you should not provide any type of personal information such as passwords or bank details.
- Banks recommend closing all other apps when accessing the web, downloading their official app and not accessing online accounts from any public device (such as in libraries).
Click here for the OSI guidelines in full
