A&L/MBNA e-mail scam?

Woby_Tide

I just got an e-mail this morning that I just can't work out. It seems to be some form of phishing, but on the other hand it appears to be a badly worded advertisement trying to get you to sign up for a card which I guess is a legitimate 'advertising' tactic of theirs. The main confusion is the bit where it says, "Any e-mail sent to you by MBNA will contain your postcode." The mail does but it's wrong postcode, or is that meant to be an example. I've clicked through the link and the the two websites it seems to aim at are https://www.mbna-mail.com and https://www.bankcardservices.co.uk. Checking whois entries they are both registered as MBNA at the address in the US 1100 North King Street
Wilmington
DE
19884 US
which is the genuine headquarters from what I can tell. I have sent an e-mail to (I hope) A&L/MBNA, the weblinks though seem to add up, just a bit confusing really. Anyone had similar?

From : MoneyBackCreditCard@mbna-mail.co.uk

Dear xxxxx

Finance has never felt so good!

There?s never been a better time to do a balance transfer. Just visit
http://www.mbna-mail.com/ets/wclk.asp?26087X1M31371 to find
out what your rate is and you could start saving money now.

Here?s how you could benefit:

- Transfer balances from other Credit Cards*
- Clear off the balances on your Store Cards
- Pay off a holiday
- Buy a car
- Take care of those household bills

And don't forget that you also earn MoneyBack on everything you buy:

- 0.5% MoneyBack on every retail transaction
- 1% MoneyBack when you shop with selected MoneyBack Partners
- 10% MoneyBack on any interest you pay on your credit card bill.


For your additional peace of mind, every Customer e-mail sent by MBNA
Europe Bank Limited, including those on behalf of A&L, will include your
postcode as it appears on your A&L statement.

SG14 2EB


Please do not reply to this email. As email is not secure we use an
automated system which does not process account enquires or requests.
In any event you should never send any personal or account details by
email. If you have any enquiries about your account please call us on
the 24 hour number on the reverse of your credit card. If you do not
want to receive emails like this in the future please send an email to
mailto:AandLCreditCard@mbna-mail.co.uk with the word remove in the
subject line.

Terms and conditions apply for the MoneyBack and MoneyBack Plus Credit
Cards, please refer to the MoneyBack rules for full details. Business
or trade purchases are not eligible. MoneyBack is only available up to
a maximum spend of £20,000 per annum.

*We may charge a handling fee for each balance transfer you complete.
All handling fees will be 2% of the amount of each transaction, and
will be at least £2 and no more than £35 for each transaction. If you
settle other cards or loans your monthly payment may be lower. Charges
may be incurred for early settlement of other loans.

Credit is available subject to status only to UK Customers aged 18 or
over. Written quotations are available on request.

The Alliance & Leicester MoneyBack Credit Card is issued by MBNA
Europe Bank Limited. Registered Office: Stansfield House, Chester
Business Park, Chester CH4 9QQ. Registered in England number 2783251.
MBNA is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Reaper

Well I don't know how they did it but screams "SCAM" to me.

The wrong postcode is an obvious error. Also when you click on the link it takes you to a web page where, no matter what option you choose, you are expected to enter your card number and the security code from the back.

Those two pieces of information are all they need to go off on a shopping trip at your expense. You did the right thing sending A&L an email, although if you used an email link from the fake web site it might not be valid! Here is the fraud notice and correct email address from the real site:

Fraudulent e-mails

Across the financial services industry a number of customers have received fraudulent e-mails which claim to be from their bank asking for Internet Banking security details. Alliance & Leicester plc has not, and never will send e-mails that ask for confidential information or security details. If you receive an e-mail requesting your Internet Banking security details, you should not respond. Please forward it to us at frauddepartment@alliance-leicester.co.uk for investigation. If you are concerned that you may have divulged your security details please contact our Internet Banking helpdesk on 0845 300 2562 (please dial +4411 3220 1505 if calling from outside the UK).

Milarky

You just might call a genuine freephone number for MBNA [0800 062062] or A&L to find out what/if they are offering here... It doesn't look like a 'scam' message, but then they wouldn't would they?

I recently got a cyptic call [recorded message] which said somehting like:

''Hello (pause) This is an important call from Egg (pause) Please press any key to continue..''

You'd think that was suspicious wouldn't you? Anyone you phone at random could be an Egg customer..

Yet that turned out to be a geniune call from Egg! I contacted Egg and told them they should put in the message to call Egg's 0845 number instead - that way people would believe it was them.. But 'press any key' makeds you immediately think of premium rate calls [etc]

I also got a call from someone claiming to be from Marbles.. I was happy to speak to the person until they asked me for my own postcode. I refused - and gave my reasons for not being happy - and they actually ended the call. But on dialling '1471' and getting a Brum number - which I called out of hours - the message was ''We are a Marbles division... etc''. Now a scammer wouldn't leave a geographical number and a message would they?

Hmm!...

But like I say, if you call someone you know speaks for MBNA then no harm can come to you..

Woby_Tide

Ok thanks all. I never got round to clicking any further on the web page. If I had seen the request for number and security code I would have guessed. Once I got through to the site and it appeared https and secure aswell as the domains 'appearing' to be above board I thought I would check. Cheers for genuine fraud address though, will get it sent off again.

mrtickle

The best solution is not to give them your email address or telephone number to start with. That way when you get calls or emails, you can be 100% sure it's fake.