Scam of the day – September 29, 2017 – Incredibly poor Wells Fargo phishing email

by | Sep 29, 2017 | Scam of the day, Site Related

Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the email which download malware or providing personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft are nothing new.   They are a staple of identity thieves and scammers and with good reason because they work. Reproduced below is a copy of a new phishing email presently circulating that appears to come from Wells Fargo.   Wells Fargo is a popular target for this type of phishing email because it is one of the largest banks in the United States.  Like so many phishing emails, this one attempts to lure you into responding by making you think there is an emergency to which you must respond. As phishing emails go, this one is embarrassingly poor. Despite having a legitimate appearing Wells Fargo logo, the grammar is atrocious.  In addition, the email address from which it was sent is that of an individual totally unrelated to Wells Fargo and is most likely the address of an email account of someone whose email account was hacked and made a part of a botnet of computers used by scammers to send out phishing emails.   As so often is the case with these type of phishing emails, it does not contain your account number in the email or address you by name.  I have removed the links contained in the original email as sent.
Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo Account

® Security Re-identify
Your Wells Fargo online access need’s to be re-identify on our server. Because we are having difficulty to contact you with the email address on file with us do to this reason’s you are advised to perform account security identification process by confirming your email account with us also to make your  account 100% secured, sign on to continue. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To avoid your Account from being Permanently BLOCKED.
Go to xxxxxxxxxxxxxx  For all other Online Banking related inquiries, please call  Wells Fargo Online Customer Service at xxxxxxxxxxxx.
TIPS

There are a number of indications that this is not a legitimate email from Wells Fargo, but instead is a phishing email. Legitimate credit card companies would refer to your specific account number in the email.  They also would direct the email to you by name rather than directing it to your email address.   As with all phishing emails, two things can happen if you click on the links provided.  Either you will be sent to a legitimate looking, but phony webpage where you will be prompted to input personal information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft or, even worse, merely by clicking on the link, you may download keystroke logging malware that will steal all of your personal information from your computer or smartphone and use it to make you a victim of identity theft.  If you receive an email like this and think it may possibly be legitimate, merely call the customer service number where you can confirm that it is a scam, but make sure that you dial the telephone number correctly because scammers have been known to buy phone numbers that are just a digit off of the legitimate numbers for financial companies, such as Wells Fargo to trap you if you make a mistake in dialing the real number.