Wonga Email - Legit?

SimIsOnTheUp

Hi guys,

I have had a rather strange and unsettling email from Wonga yesterday.

I did apply for a loan from 'Wonga', but that was back in March / April time, and not since then (I was turned down at the time, thank goodness).

The email reads as follows -

Dear .........

Wonga.com has just received an application for a loan

If this application was made by you and you've recently visited the site to set your primary email address, merging the duplicate account, please ignore this message.

Otherwise, it's important that you know our anti-fraud system has detected multiple email addresses being used on your account.

If it was you who made the application, click her hereto re-verify yourself and your application will progress as normal. This link will expire in 48 hours.

If it was not you who made the application and you suspect fraud, please reply to this email immediately with any information you may have so that we can report it to the police.

Thanks

The customer service team
https://www.wonga.com

.......................

This has really unnerved me, as I'm worried someone has tried taking out a loan in my name.

(I haven't contacted Wonga yet)

Anyone else on MSE received one of these emails?

Many Thanks,

Sim.

PS - Also posted on Loans board.

sp1987

Be mindful it could be somebody trying to extract personal information from you. That sort of email would surely gain a response from many of name, address, bank details. People could genuinely respond to a suspected fraud email giving out all the information needed to perform the fraud they wanted to prevent!

Maybe find the telephone number for wonga from their website and give them a ring tomorrow and ask? At least you will know you are speaking to them and not godknowswho!

SimIsOnTheUp

Thanks sp1987.

Exactly what I was worried about!

I don't want to give them any details.

The email address they used is theteam@wonga.com

Not sure if this is them or not, but they used my first name - ie Dear ....

and they have Wonga's full address and Registered number at the bottom of the email.

As you say though, it could just be someone trying to get info from me. Quite scary, as I've never had one of these before.

Am off for a Google!

Thanks again,

Sim.

sp1987

A few years ago I asked someone how easy it was to spoof email addresses and was told to wait 5 minutes. I then received an email from bill @ microsoft.com telling me it was in fact very easy, lol. I've no idea on the technicalities of it but if you wanted to perform a complex fraud I'm sure you'd bother working that bit out, lol.

Give them a ring as it's not worth wondering about, but just make sure you find their number and not just ring anything you are told to, where George Abduhdedwengo is waiting like on Fonejacker, lol.

Marisco

Hi Sim, best thing to do with this is hit the delete button;)

Mrs_Jojo

I don't think the best thing to do is ignore it - someone might be trying to use details fraudulently! Best thing is to phone them directly, perhaps also email to say that you are going to phone them, then you have a paper (or at least email) trail if someone is trying to use your details?

podperson

If you are worried ring them direct or try going direct to their website to see if there is any message on there. NEVER click on the link to it in the email.

SimIsOnTheUp

Thanks guys.

Podperson -

Spot on re not clicking the link in the email.

I wasn't going to do that, but just reply to the email, having checked that the email address is correct - theteam@wonga.com is apparently correct.

I can not find their phone number, and their website is down!

Any ideas please folks?

Thanks,

Sim.

amiehall

I got 0871 288 5704 as the contact for them here https://www.wonga.com/Statics/Wonga/contact.aspx

There's also a secure messaging facility if you don't want to waste your cash calling them. That would probably result in them sending you more emails though....

SimIsOnTheUp

Anniehall

Thank You for the info.

I will contact them via their 'Live Chat' facility through their site, as I'm not prepared to call them on their extortionate 0870 number!

Thanks again,

Sim.

DarkConvict

Spoofing an email address is apprently quite easy. Spoofing the reply address is not possible as you see the address it goes back to in your email.
What some people will do is obviously set the reply to be support@llve.com, not support@live.com.

However, as spotted already the best way is to hide the url, like this (try it) -> www.google.com
it redirects to a similar if not identical website. However the URL is wrong and the code behind it just records any information entered, it doesn't send it to a real system.

In your case i would just forward the email to Wonga at the email address supplied, and state you made no application, please treat this as a fraudent application. If they need further details please provide a secure contact method, as you are unwilling to provide your details online, if they are required.