Zyra's website //// Bank Hoaxes //// Nationwide //// Site Index
Please Update your Account at the Nationwide? I don't think so!
Here's a message which came in claiming to be from the Nationwide. Looks genuine? Well it's not. It's a hoax! (see more commentary after message)
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Original Message ----- From: Nationwide To: (none) Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 5:47 AM Subject: Please Update your Account !
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Now let's get this in perspective:
* I don't have a Nationwide account, but even if I did I would not be fooled into updating because of an email. Banks do not send out circular emails to customers!
* This message has come in to "none", always a bad sign. However on closer inspection it's come in to my Sign up to My Newsletter address. I use separate addresses for different companies, (see email address policy), so this message destination doesn't even remotely fit with correct banking procedure.
* Whereas the link to "Click here to Update" looks at first like it might go to the Nationwide, it actually goes to http;//www,mazzarello.cl/cache/b.php which is a website registered in Chile. Yes, Nationwide.co.uk might have call centres around the world, but I have a sneaking suspicion in this case it's more likely to be phishing
* Banks such as the Nationwide know your name and do not refer to you as "Dear Customer".
* The images in the message are served from the official Nationwide website, but that's bandwidth pinching and not a sign it's genuine. Actually the hoaxers are leaving themselves vulnerable to being unmasked as the Nationwide might easily swap the images and replace the images with "THIS IS A HOAX" like on the eBay spam message page.
* "This email was sent by NationWide 's online Server". It's a lie. Besides, the capitalisation is different, a mistake which corporate entities never make with their own trade name.
* The message character set is Cyrillic, Russian, so probably not from Nationwide.co.uk then?
So, it's a bank hoax. If you have been caught out by this and been silly enough to give away your personal details to the hoaxers by entering them on an online form, don't panic! You need to call the real Nationwide and tell them. Get the phone book and look up their number and give them a call (the information by this method is independent of the hoax situation). If you act on this soon, you can avoid the problems of identity theft which are typical of this type of scam.
I am an affiliate of the Nationwide, so obviously I'd like you to sign up to open an account there, but this fact is independent of the public spirited work I do online to expose scamsters! Also see Nigeria Scam, pyramid schemes, and chain letters! Incidentally, when stuffing and mounting a hoax scam email online like this, I tame it by taking out the dangerous links to the destinations, and I adjust the text size to make it easier to read. Apart from that, the message on the page is a reasonable likeness to the ones you might receive. Remember they are not from where they say they are. You can see some more of these on the page of messages pretending to be from your bank
Here's another message which is also a fake, pretending to be from the Nationwide:
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Original Message ----- From: Nationwide Bank To: Operator account Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 8:19 AM Subject: Account Security Measures Notification Your
Nationwide Account Has Been Suspended! |
It is of course nonsense and it's designed to scare someone who had a Nationwide account into being so shocked their account had been suspended that they'd be fooled into linking on the link, which does not go to Nationwide.co.uk , or .com (which isn't even the same company), but in fact goes to http;//www,ju-warstein.de/sv/mambots/content/mossef.php which is someone's site registered in Germany (and whoever owns that site, they have probably been hacked). These messages are fraud, as whoever is doing this is improperly impersonating the Nationwide Security Staff. Also see other messages pretending to be from your bank
Also note that at the Nationwide they've got a spellchecker and they don't say things like "We are sorry for the incovinience this problem may cause but please understand this only for your own good"!