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.  Copied below is a new phishing email  presently being sent to unsuspecting people that appears to come from Wells Fargo.  This particular one came with particularly good looking graphics and a Wells Fargo logo, but it is a scam.

TIPS

An indication that this is a phishing email is that the email address from which it was sent had nothing to do with Wells Fargo but most likely was sent from a computer that was part of a botnet of computers hacked into and controlled remotely by the scammer.  In addition, legitimate emails from your bank would include the last four digits of your account.  Often such phishing emails originate in countries where English is not the primary language and the spelling and grammar are poor. However, this particular phishing email is done quite artfully, which only serves to make it more dangerous.  Obviously, if you are not a Wells Fargo customer, you will recognize immediately that this is a scam.

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 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 or other institution from which the email purports to originate 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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