Today’s Scam of the day comes from my own email account and I am sure it, or something similar, has turned up in yours.  It appears to be a notice from Bethpage federal credit union that a new payee has been added to my online banking account.  It is common when you do add a new payee to your online banking account to receive a notice from your bank confirming that indeed you did add the new payee and it is not a scam.  In this case, particularly because I do not have an account with Bethpage federal credit union, it was clear to me that this was a scam.  Had I been concerned that the email was legitimate and clicked on the links provided in this phishing email, I would have either been prompted to provide personal information that would have led to my identity being stolen or, even worse, I would have automatically downloaded keystroke logging malware that would have stolen my personal information directly and made me a victim of identity theft.

Here is a copy of the email I received.  DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE LINKS.

TIPS

This particular phishing email is filled with flaws.  First and most notably, the email address from which it was sent is a private email account, most likely that of someone whose email had been hacked and used as a part of a botnet to send out phishing emails such as this.  The email address from which it was sent had absolutely no relationship with the Bethpage federal credit union.  In addition, the email salutation is merely “Greetings from Bethpage Bill Pay” rather than being addressed to me by name.  Finally, no logo of the bank appears in the email as well.  If you ever do receive this or a similar email that you think might be legitimate,  you still should not click on the links in the email or call the phone numbers that appear in the email.   Rather you should call the bank at a telephone number that you know is correct in order to find out what the truth is.