Your Westpac E-Statement Phishing Scam
This week our spam filters have caught yet another bank related phishing email scam targeting Westpac customers. Westpac is one of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks and is also the second-largest bank in New Zealand. If you receive this email delete it from your inbox to avoid the risk of sharing your personal online banking information with criminals.
Figure A shows the email in question. It is very simple and is all text based – this is a ploy to get you to click through to learn more or understand why you got the email. The subject line reads “Your Westpac e-statement” which is enough to intrigue interest, especially if you have an account with the same bank. The sender is shown as “e-statement@westpac.com.au” which is an interesting tactic to trick you it is from Westpac directly when in fact it is not – this is an advanced scamming technique. There is one malicious link in the email in the form of a hyperlink (in blue).
Figure B is a safely captured screenshot of the phishing website you will land on if you click the link within the email. The website is phishing for your online banking log in data. It is designed and branded to be a convincing duplicate of the official Westpac online banking portal. If you reach this page do not go any further – filling out this form will lead to your log in data being saved and accessed by the scammers.
Banking email scams are among the most dangerous we see reaching inbox’s on a daily basis. If you are ever in doubt of an email’s authenticity contact the institution directly to confirm before going any further. If this email reaches your inbox, delete it immediately.
Steph Kent
MailShark
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