Lloyds Bank issues warning on what it will ‘never’ do after woman targeted for £130,000 | Personal Finance | Finance
Scams are rife, and criminals are devising new techniques to secure their ill-gotten gains and leave innocent people devastated. Sadly, fraudsters are seeking to confront people at work – as some individuals could be employed for companies with substantial bank balances, making them a target
This was a situation Jo* found herself in, while working in accounts for a manufacturing company.
When at work one day, Jo received an email which appeared to derive from Lloyds Bank.
The correspondence stated Lloyds’ online banking service had been improved, and asked her to click a link contained within.
It prompted her to check her security details and choose new security questions, which she thought was a sensible course of action.
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The link took Jo to a supposedly legitimate website which resembled Lloyds, where she entered all her security details.
However, this is where the scammers kicked in with further nefarious efforts.
The email was a scam, with the sender’s address using the letter ‘I’ instead of ‘L’ as the first in the name ‘Lloyds’.
As a result, she was redirected to a scam site where fraudsters could steal all the personal details she entered.
Understandably, this could be devastating for a business, but also on a personal level.
Scammers also deploy these techniques outside of targeting workplaces, as they send similar emails to people in a personal capacity.
To help Britons protect themselves at work and at home, Lloyds Bank has share warning tips on how to spot a fake email.
The bank said it will always greet people by title and surname, for example, ‘Dear Mrs Smith’.
Similarly, it will include part of a person’s main account number, or part of their postcode.
Lloyds Bank will always write to Britons in a “reasonable and calm way”, as scam messages often use warnings, threats or fraud, or claims of problems with an account.
The bank will never send a message that asks for personal details, or asks to move money to another account or make a test payment online.
Its messages will not link directly to an internet banking log on page, or a page asking for security or personal details.
Finally, email addresses are often a key way to help Britons spot if a scam is taking place.
All emails from Lloyds Bank should end with lloydsbank.co.uk, and never have another word in between lloydsbank and .co.uk.
*name has been changed to protect individual’s identity.
