A new phishing scam is spreading around Finland via e-mail. Scam messages were circulated on Sunday bearing the names of three of Finland’s banks: Aktia, Nordea, and Nooa Säästöpankki.
The scam's messages inform the recipient that their online banking services are being discontinued, prompting them to open the link that's come along with the e-mail. The message also says that a unit in charge of online banking services will call the recipient by phone after the update is complete.
The Säästöpankki saving bank group has sent out a press release to warn people of the misleading messages.
“As with spam e-mails, phishing scams use e-mail lists that they have collected to send out phishing messages to a very wide audience. The scammers don’t know who is a member of what bank, as they cannot receive any personal information, like e-mail addresses, from the banks themselves. Their goal is to steal money in a fraudulent manner with the data that they collect,” warns the bank’s press release.
The group recommends that people do not answer the phishing messages for any reason and delete them accordingly. As a rule, banks make it a policy to never enquire after customer IDs via e-mail, text message or phone. Persons who have already replied to the scam message or who have volunteered information are advised to contact their bank immediately.