Tips on how to protect yourself against phishing attempts

[Standard Bank Team]

So we’ve all heard about “Phishing” and by phishing we don’t mean get your rods ready and head for the nearest river. However, the fraudsters behind these scams are looking to get you hook, line and sinker, so we’ve put together everything you need to know to prevent becoming an easy target for these criminals.

What is phishing?
It is a form of identity theft in which fraudsters masquerade as reputable institutions such as banks or retailers. Hackers send authentic looking emails often with the correct logo, disclaimer and similar features. They request your sensitive banking information under the pretence that your account will be closed, or that the bank is upgrading its systems or perhaps you have won a large sum of money and they need your banking details to deposit your winnings.

Often these emails request that you click on links that will redirect you to a fraudulent website. This site is often a direct replica of the Internet banking log-on screen. Once you’ve entered your details on the fake website the fraudsters then use your log-on details to defraud you.

Although it appears as though the institution being mimicked is at fault, these businesses have nothing to do with these criminal acts.

Tips to prevent phishing
With so many of our customers falling for these scams, it is important to remind all of our customers that, although we try our best to protect you, you also need to be on high alert and do your part in protecting your money.

• Standard Bank/Stanbic Bank will never ask that you send, update or confirm personal and secret information like PINs or passwords via an email or over the telephone. If such a mail appears in your mailbox, please ignore and delete.
• Standard Bank/Stanbic Bank will never send you an email requesting that you click on a link that will redirect you to our Internet Banking page.
• Only enter your Internet Banking through our official websites for example www.standardbank.co.za. Never enter Internet banking via links in emails or other webpages.
• Do not make use of public access points such as Internet cafés or any computer that is not your own when doing your banking.
• Make use of the free notifications service offered with Internet Banking in your country. For example if you register for MyUpdates in South Africa you will receive instant SMS notification when you log-on, when beneficiaries are loaded or amended, when your Internet banking profile is amended and when a once-off payment is made.
• We also offer the one-time password (OTP) service for additional security. When entering your one-time password (OTP) ensure that you are on the secure Standard Bank or Stanbic Bank website by checking the web address.
• We recommend not using your Favourites or Bookmarks in your browser to access Internet banking.
• Change your password and customer-selected PIN (CSP) regularly.
• Be sure to install the free Rapport software to prevent a variety of online attacks, these include keyloggers, screen capturing, session hijacking and spyware. To learn more about this software, Click here
• Be very careful with downloading files and attachments from these emails as these documents may contain spyware, viruses and other damaging software.
• Look out for masked URLs in emails, in other words URLs that look authentic, for example say standardbank.co.za but that are hiding the real URL behind them. The safest way to check if the URL has been masked is to right click on the link and select “edit hyperlink,” the true URL sitting behind it will be revealed. Check the root domain of this link, if it is masked, you will see that it has nothing to do with Standard Bank / Stanbic Bank and will actually take you to a fake site.
• Read the emails carefully. There are often grammatical and spelling mistakes in these fraudulent mails.
• Please assist us by sending all mails to [email protected] or [email protected] so that we can investigate and shut these syndicates down.

Should you have divulged any personal information in this manner, please contact a Standard Bank or Stanbic Bank office in your country immediately. Contact details are available here: http://www.standardbank.com/ContactUs.aspx.