Should I delete these?

Poststructural Pub
1

They are messages from Washington Mutual Bank that just showed up on my e-mail…

******Dear Washington Mutual Customer,

We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your Washington Mutual Internet Banking account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Protecting the security of your account and of the Washington Mutual network is our primary concern. Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited access to sensitive account features.

To restore your account access, please take the following steps to ensure that your account has not been compromised:

  1. Login to your Washington Mutual Internet Banking account. In case you are not enrolled for Internet Banking, you will have to use your Social Security Number as both your Personal ID and Password and fill in all the required information, including your name and account number.

  2. Review your recent account history for any unauthorized withdrawles or deposits, and check your account profile to make sure not changes have been made. If any unauthorized activity has taken place on your account, report this to Washington Mutual staff immediately.

To get started, please click on the link below:

https://login.personal.wamu.com/logon/logon.asp?dd=1

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintain the integrity of the entire Washington Mutual system. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.


Sincerly,

The Washington Mutual Team

Please do not respond to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For Assistance, log in to your Washington Mutual account and choose the “Help” link in the header of any page.“”“”“”"

AFAIK, I do not think that I have anything to do with this bank. They look and sound legit.
I have, however, donated some money to some charitable organizations (using a credit card, also not thru this bank, however) so am now worried that someone got hold of an account number somehow?

I am planning to delete these messages, but I need to know…
My husband is even more naive than I am, ( :astonished: ) and if he sees these on his e-mail, he may just go ahead and log on… I want to prevent mayhem from occuring…
Somebody help me!

Mary

2

Definitely delete this!!!

We get one of these from virtually every bank on the planet. They send of lots just in case someone fools for it. If you feel unsafe, you always can contact your bank, send them the mail you received but do not go via provided addresses in the email itself. If then use the proper ones you may have in your bank files or you can find these on the homepage of your bank.

Hope this helps
Brigitte

3

It’s a well known scam.
Ignore it and wise up your hubby.

Slan,
D.

4

Thanks, so much y’all.

I am actually sweating!
What’s wrong with me?

Mary

5

If you go to your bank’s site (NOT BY CLICKING ON THAT LINK) you’ll probably find something about fraudulent e-mails that tells you that they will never refer to you as “Dear bank customer” but will always put your name in the salutation. This applies to e-Bay, PayPal, and all the major credit card companies also.

The people who send these phishing schemes out are real talented in making the message seem legit, even using real company names and making their fake site look like the real company page.

When in doubt, always open a new browser window and type in the company’s address yourself, never use the link in the suspicious e-mail.

6

I get these from scammers pretending to represent eBay and PayPal. PayPal and eBay encourage notifying them about fraudulent emails by forwarding them to “spoof@ebay.com” and “spoof@paypal.com.”

You might want to check the legitimate website of your bank and try to find if they have an email address they would like scam messages forwarded to so they can investigate.

I get some satisfaction out of reporting these scam emails and receiving an email back from PayPal or eBay stating that they didn’t send the email and thanking me for reporting it.

Best wishes,
Jerry

7

It’s important to realise that you should never take these requests at face value even if they do address you by name and even if you do have an account with the bank. A phone call or an email sent to teh address on the bank’s site will establish the fraudulence quickly.

8

unauthorized >>>>withdrawles<<<<<<<

How stupid do they think we all are?

First copy and paste the entire thing into notepad, then from there paste it into an email to the Washington Mutual security agency or the FBI.

BTW the scam site is still up, and presumably collecting passwords and stealing money!

9

realize that most banks would not do this type of thing via email…

however, if you have any doubts as to whether an email such as this is authentic or not, point your cursor to the link, and see what actually shows up (if you’re running Internet Explorer, that is) on the bottom of the screen. Any “secure” site - which one should be if it’s asking for information - will start with a https: not just http: If you actually click on the link, the address line should be a https: and the little yellow “lock” should be on the bottom right of your screen. If either of these are missing, it’s NOT a secure site, so don’t enter ANY information you don’t want everyone to know.

Missy

10

This is a common ploy used to trick you into giving your info to the ‘official’ site, when in fact you are giving it to the thieves planning to do exactly what they are supposedly ‘warning’ you about.

NEVER CLICK ON ANY LINK IN A SUSPICIOUS E-MAIL!!

Delete, yes, but only after you have forwarded the entire email, including the full header ( http://support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/img/walkthroughs/other/landingpage/9262.psc.html ), to the company they are pretending to represent (you can locate their real URL online), and to your Internet service provider. It is important that you report it so that there is evidence of the illegal action, and a trail to be followed. Scammers count on people not to take the time to think or check, let alone report them.

If you are on EarthLink, http://support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/img/walkthroughs/other/landingpage/8976.psc.html

An informative tutorial on how to deal with this is on the Wachovia Securities site http://www.wachovia.com/helpcenter/page/0,,5184_5187,00.html

Sophos has similar info http://www.sophos.com/spaminfo/bestpractice/phishing.html

11

Missy,

It does not insure that it is a “secure” link to where the email says it is…


Denny

“You can never be too paranoid.”
Betty Davis

12

After getting rid of the email run several different spyware removers. They may have also downloaded a program that records your keyboard entries. Run these programs regularly. If you ever go on the internet it is absolutely necessary. Just yesterday I removed a program that records keystrokes.
suggested programs: Adaware, Spybot, and MS Antispy beta.

Ron

13

Delete it. I’ve gotten a few of them despite the fact that at most of these banks I have no account. Obviously a scam.

14

Mary, just give me all your bank account numbers, social security numbers, PIN, etc, and I’ll take care of it for you. :smiley: :smiley:

15

Don’t forget Date of Birth and Mother’s maiden name…
:wink:

16

Also look into a firewall program such as ZoneAlarm that controls information both into and out of your computer. If you get infected with a keylogging program, it still will need your permission to send the information through the firewall. Zone Alarm is free but there is a version with more features that you can purchase.

Angelo

17

Thanks everybody, for the great advice. I feel a lot better now!

M

18

Mary, just give me all your bank account numbers, social security numbers, PIN, etc, and I’ll take care of it for you.

That’s funny, but I also thinks it’s scary that there’s some people out there would do just that by clicking on that link. So many are sooooo uninformed when it comes to their computers. Thankfully, my husband won’t click on anything that pops up or comes in his email without checking with me first. If it’s more than three words long, he pretends like he doesn’t understand it 'cuz he’s too lazy to read it himself. sigh

I guess that’s a good thing… T