Unauthorised access email from A&L?

pinkpig08

Hi all,
I've received an email today from A&L (?) saying after a review of my account they've noticed unauthorised access to my online banking account. A bit of background - me and DH opened this account ages ago to transfer our overdraft. We didn't meet the criteria and they got my name wrong so we have never used the account. Never paid anything in or taken anything out. I've never been on the online banking either - we've just never touched the account. I clicked on the link in the email to 'verify' and it took me to a website 'vancitynights.com' or something like that. My web filter blocked it and a warning window came up saying the website had been 'reported to microsoft for containing threats to your computer that might reveal personal or financial information'. I came straight out and have not accessed the site or entered any information. Has anyone else had this email? The email address it comes from has alliance and leicester in it, but in the actual message my own email addreaa is not in the 'to:' bar. Should I report it? And who to? Thanks for any advice.....

BASFORDLAD

just delete it...

peregrin

It's phishing, a genuine looking e-mail will redirect you to a genuine-looking A&L site (albeit on a different server) where you are asked to enter lots of personal information to "verify" your account, including PIN numbers, full passwords (rather than just letters) etc. etc.

The nefarious sorts responsible will then use this information to help themselves to the contents of your account!

They are preying on people who might not be computer savvy and just accept the e-mail and the fake website as being genuine, because it looks fairly genuine. Nowadays many modern web browsers can check against a database of reported phishing sites and warn you, which is what happened.

As the above poster said, just ignore it. Banks will almost never e-mail you in these circumstances anyway... surely if your account had been compromised they would be ringing!

stclair

I had one of these the other day and I dont even bank with A&L lol

frugallass

stclair wrote: »

I had one of these the other day and I dont even bank with A&L lol

same - we get loads at work to the info@ box - HMRC, Halifax Banking, Alliance + Leicester blah blah blah

chnelomi

i get loads of these emails, best to implement the info your bank gives you. do not click any links in emails we will not ask for your personnel details in an email.
If you do believe it may be genuine or just want to make sure it's fake call into a branch or call them do not reply to the email directly.

oh and if you get them from other banks get ready for the beloved friend emails that follow. i have millions sitting in the bank just waiting for me to give them my bank details to transfer it lol i'm a millionaire:rotfl:

LaRaychie

Hi there, I am an employee of A+L and can tell you we dont send emails out willy nilly!!! This is more than likey a phishing scam.
Seeing as you have never used the account before, I would call them up and just check to be 100% sure.
If you are not using, and are not going to use the account, I would advise closing it off.
As chnelomi says below....get ready for other banks you dont hold accounts for happily jumping on the band wagon. I would advise blocking the sender as any legitimate enquiry from your account provider would definately have sent you a letter first!!
Hope this helps?!

nzseries1

pinkpig08 wrote: »

I clicked on the link in the email to 'verify'

Big mistake. The spammers now know your email address is valid. Best case scenario you can expect now is you will get no end of spam.

thesim

If you place your cusor over the link and it comes up diferrent chance are its fake- you dont need to click on the link.

hippey

I had one from the Halifax...

What was worrying is that they are the ONLY people who had the email address where a phishing email came from as I always use the format of

companyname @..................co.uk

So how exactly did my email address get into the wild??

Sportbilly_2

hippey wrote: »

I had one from the Halifax...

What was worrying is that they are the ONLY people who had the email address where a phishing email came from as I always use the format of

companyname @..................co.uk

So how exactly did my email address get into the wild??

'Guesswork', maybe- your address might have been randomly generated by a program.