A NEW 'phishing' scam affecting Banco Santander customers has been detected, with thousands of emails purporting to be from the entity asking account-holders to confirm their PINs and online banking passwords via a web link.
The National Institute of Communication Technology (INTECO) says a sudden upsurge in 'phishing' attempts has been reported and warns users not to click on any links in emails, but to delete them unanswered and unread.
Banks will never ask for personal information, especially where it is security-sensitive, via email or telephone, so any message which does so is a scam and is not from the entity, stresses INTECO. And any banking website address will start with https://, showing it is a secure server.
INTECO advises against online banking from public computers or Wi-Fi connections, to shut down any other applications before opening a bank site and logging in, to take care to log out when finishing or leaving the computer, and not to click on any links or download any attachments from emails coming from unknown addresses.
