Spam Email?

ikkinsmiles75

Hi all
I wonder if anyone can help....
I have just recieved an email in my inbox that looks suspicious. Has anyone else recieved it and/or know anything about it - nothing is coming up in google. There is an attachment which I haven't opened and the message includes the following text:
Cheers

==========================================
This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply as the email address is not monitored for received mail.
===========================================

Notification Number: *******
Mandate Number: *******
Date: December 16, 2014. 02:03pm

In an effort to protect your Banking account, we have frozen your account until such time that it can be safely restored by you. Please view attached file "P-32087XEBO-23239.cab" for details.

Sincerely,
Vita Easly[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Obvious candidate for deletion. A .CAB file is not what you want people sending you.

pinkdalek

Sounds like a scam, if you have copied it word for word the grammar is wrong and it just does not read well.

I would suggest ringing your bank direct on a recognised number or going into branch and just asking them if there is any freeze on your account.

Chrisblue1962

Personally, I'd do the following:

1. Do NOT open the attachment, it's invariably a Trojan / Virus in a .cab file
2. Delete e-mail completely
3. Run your anti-virus / spyware / malware programs
4. Phone your bank and let them know what you received so they can warn other customers.

Hope this helps

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

OP: Out of interest

• which bank does the message claim to be from?
• are you actually a customer of that bank?

grumbler

ikkinsmiles75 wrote: »

...
I have just recieved an email in my inbox that looks suspicious.

Is this the first e-mail like this you ever received? You are very lucky then or your e-mail address is very new.

Unlike many more professional scam emails, this one is soooo primitive and with so many sings of the scam that it can be targeting only the most naive people.
The main and the most obvious sign is a zip attachment, not to mention luck of your name and even the name of the bank (!).

If you know very little about this, search the internet or have a read of MSE articles/news:
Stop Scams - protect yourself online - MoneySavingExpert
Watch out for O2 crash email scams
Beware fake HMRC tax refund emails
Students warned over loan email scam
Beware the fake 'HMRC tax rebate' email
...
...

marleyboy

There a very simple way of establishing if this is a scam.

banks DO NOT E-mail their customers.
bank letters\statements will always have the customers full name on it
bank letters\statements will also include the full bank account number and\or details.

Anything missing from the above is a clue. An E-mail from the bank is a big giveaway.

grumbler

marleyboy wrote: »

banks DO NOT E-mail their customers.

They do.
Barclaycard
Nationwide
Santander/Cahoot
Smile
Lloyds
...

The content of e-mails is a different question.

bank letters\statements will always have the customers full name on it

Barclaycard address me by my first name in their e-mails (this thread is about e-mails, not paper letters/statements, isn't it?).

bank letters\statements will also include the full bank account number and\or details.

I see a e-mail from Lloyds showing just 4 last digits of my account number:

the last four digits of your Current account number: **** 6789

And I am sure it's a genuine e-mail.
BTW, it addresses me by surname only.

colsten

marleyboy wrote: »

banks DO NOT E-mail their customers.

They DO. I get genuine emails all the time from Santander, Lloyds, HSBC, Natwest, Lloyds, TSB, Netbank, Post Office Bank, Ulster Bank plus a few Building Societies such as Nationwide, Newcastle and KRBS, and CC companies such as AMEX and Barclaycard.

If you were meant to say banks do not send emails with attachments to their customers - staggeringly, they DO. Both Lloyds and TSB have been known to send emails with attachments.

OP, your email is a scam.

marleyboy

Fortunately I DONT. Must have something to do with me not providing them with my e-mail.

I have had e-mails supposed from banks (any branch even if I only use 1) that usually start with Dear Marleyboy, Dear Valued Customer or Dear Sir\Madam.

They all go in the recycle bin.

colsten

marleyboy wrote: »

Fortunately I DONT. Must have something to do with me not providing them with my e-mail.

not entirely surprising to any thinking person - you didn't give your bank(s) an email address, so they didn't have an email address to send anything you, and you received no emails from the bank. This doesn't equate with banks never emailing you, as you asserted earlier.

marleyboy wrote: »

banks DO NOT E-mail their customers..