Scam text messages appear among genuine messages.
Scam messages are circulating in the name of S-Pank. Adobe Stock / AOP
There is a new scam campaign in which criminals send Finns text messages that appear to come from S-Bank. The situation is particularly worrisome because the fraudulent messages enter the same message thread as genuine messages from S-Bank.
In the messages received by Iltalehti, S-Bank appears as the sender. Forgery of the sender’s name is possible and cannot be prevented.
The theme of the messages Iltalehti received was the same, i.e. they claimed that suspicious activity had been detected on the recipient’s account. However, the messages were written differently and the addresses of the links varied. However, the fraudulent message can also refer to a “new payee”.
An attempt has been made to make the address shown in the fraudulent message seem genuine. Screenshot / Iltalehti
Through the links in the scam messages, criminals try to fish for bank credentials, payment card information or other private information. The sites can also try to spread malware, which can be used to excavate the previously mentioned information, steal passwords and much more.
S-Pankki warns of ongoing scams in its customer bulletin.
– The links in the messages should not be clicked, but the messages should be deleted. S-Pankki never sends its customers links to sites that ask for bank IDs or card information, S-Pankki reminds.
For example, such scam messages are in circulation. S Bank
Four important tips
S-Pankki put together four tips for safe banking. These are worth remembering!
- Do not give your bank credentials, card details or other sensitive personal information to anyone. Authorities and banks will never ask you to hand over your personal information over the phone, email, text message, social media channels or face-to-face at your doorstep. S-Bank will also never ask you to send a picture of the PIN table or, surprisingly, your passport.
- Do not respond to contacts that seem vague. Do not click on links that seem strange or open attachments in suspicious emails. If you are not sure of the authenticity of the contact, you can always look up the company’s or other sender’s contact information, for example, on their own website and contact the customer service of that company.
- Log in to S-Bank with S-mobile or via S-Bank’s own website. We do not send links in e-mails that take you to the login page of S-Pank’s online bank. We also never ask for a remote connection to our customers’ computer. The safest way to log into the online bank is to enter the address of S-Pankki’s website in the address field of the browser itself, i.e. www.s-pankki.fi. Do not go to online banking using a search engine.
- Be careful in the online store as well. Beware of offers that sound too good and try to be sure of the security of online shopping. Here you can find more information about safe online payments. By paying with a credit card, you get better security in possible problem situations.
If you have entered your bank IDs or payment card information on the page that opens from the link in the scam message, report it immediately to the bank ID blocking service on 09 6964 6820 and, for payment cards, to the card blocking service on 020 333.