Who doesn’t ride the train at least once in a while. It’s no wonder that criminals are increasingly casting their “data fishing rods” on train passengers. A popular method for this: phishing emails.
Hardly any other topic always causes as much discussion as the DB. The Germans and their railways have had a passionate love-hate relationship for many years. It is often enough to give a corresponding keyword in a conversation and people outdo each other with stories of delays. Nevertheless, it is a very popular means of transport and locomotion. This also makes Deutsche Bahn and its customers an increasingly common target for phishing emails.
Deutsche Bahn warns of false e-mails about the Bahncard lock
E-mails are currently circulating again that allegedly require confirmations or updates to the rail customer account. The sender is usually a supposed Bahn administrator, and the messages usually contain the threat of a BahnCard ban if there is no response.
Corresponding mails are actually quite easy to recognize as fraud. If you read the text carefully, you will discover minor errors in most cases. Deutsche Bahn also reports English-language passages in the relevant news.
Beware of wrong survey
The scammers also deliver fictitious rail surveys that are supposedly rewarded with money. Questions are asked about how you feel about your train journeys and whether you have any suggestions for improvement. At first glance, the e-mails appear to be quite serious. In general, however, you should never click on links from sources that are not 100 percent reliable.
Deutsche Bahn itself recommends deleting such phishing emails immediately. If in doubt, you can find out about current campaigns on the web site. On the other hand, Deutsche Bahn never rewards surveys with money.
Also interesting: Bank customers should beware of these scams
How to protect yourself from phishing emails
One should neither click on links in the fraudulent messages nor reply to them or provide any data, Deutsche Bahn warns on theirs Phishing info page. The only right reaction: Delete the respective mail immediately.
This is particularly important when an e-mail with a link to register for a “My Bahn Account” ends up in the inbox, even though you haven’t created a new account with the Bahn yourself. The only explanation for this: identity theft. Criminals started registering on the Bahn website with an e-mail address from the recipient.
Anyone who simply deletes such an email directly is on the safe side. For its part, Deutsche Bahn assures that it will delete improperly created and obviously incorrect customer accounts, including e-mail addresses. She also recommends purchasing tickets or vouchers only from official sources when in doubt.
With information from the dpa