Here is another good example of a phishing email that is presently being circulated.   It makes for compelling reading, but it is a scam.  Phishing emails, by which scammers and identity thieves attempt to lure you into either clicking on links contained within the email which will 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.  As always, they lure you by making it appear that there is an emergency that requires your immediate attention or else dire consequences will occur.  Here is a copy of a new phishing email that appears to come from Barclays, the multinational bank.  While it is well written, it does not contain a Barclays logo and the salutation is an odd “Dear customer” with the name of the person receiving the email following the word “customer.” I have removed the name of the Scamicide reader who received this email and replaced his name with XXXX for reasons of personal privacy. Legitimate emails from your bank would include the last four digits of your account. This email has no such account information.
Here is a copy of the email:
“Security Alert
Dear customer, XXXXXXXX
Your account has been limited temporarily in order to protect it. The account will continue to be limited until it is approved.
Once you have updated your account records, your information will be confirmed and your account will start to work as normal once again.
The process does not take more than 5 minutes.
Once connected, follow the steps to activate your account. We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure security.
How to remove limitation :
Visit the following website to complete the survey. Simply click on the web address below:
Click here to activate your account
We appreciate your participation and look forward to hear from you.
This is a service email from BARCLAYS. Please note that you may receive service emails in accordance with your BARCLAYS service agreements, whether or not you elect to receive promotional email.
Read our Privacy Notice.
Please don’t reply directly to this automatically generated email message.
BARCLAYS Email, NC1-028-09-01, 150 N College St., Charlotte, NC 28255
BARCLAYS, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender
© 2018 BARCLAYS Corporation. All rights reserved.”
TIPS
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 website 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 will download keystroke logging malware that will steal all of your personal information from your computer 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 your bank at a telephone number that you know is accurate and you will be able to confirm that it is a scam.
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