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3 Jul 2018

Alert - Beware Fake UBS Bank e-mails

Please be careful and do NOT click any links or open attachments of any e-mails before reading them carefully first. Here's a good example, it's a fake e-mail that I received recently:

>>>
Subject: Wir haben ein Problem mit Ihrem Konto festgestellt

Hallo!

Einen kurzen Validierungsprozess durch zufhren, um Ihre Rechnungs- und Zahlungsdetails zu ber prfen. Wenn Sie den Validierungsprozess nicht abschlie en, wird Ihre UBS-Mitgliedschaft gesperrt.

Wir unternehmen alle notwendigen Schritte, um unsere Nutzer automatisch zu validieren. In diesem Fall konnten wir leider Ihre Daten nicht best tigen.

Der Vorgang wird nur ein paar Minuten dauern und es uns erm glichen, unseren hohen Standard der Kontosicherheit beizubehalten.

UBS 1998-2018

<<<


Here's the same text translated to English using Google Translate:

>>>
Subject: We have detected a problem with your account

Hello!

Perform a short validation process to verify your billing and payment details. If you do not complete the validation process, your UBS membership will be suspended.

We take all necessary steps to automatically validate our users. In this case, unfortunately we could not confirm your data.

The process will take only a few minutes and will allow us to maintain our high standard of account security.

<<<


A screen shot of the original message:




If you open an e-mail like this the first thing to do is STOP!
Do *not* open any attachments (I didn't have one on the e-mail I received but this is general advice)
Do *not* click any links (especially that big red one!). First read the e-mail a few times:
  • Look at the sender e-mail address, this is the biggest giveaway that this must be a fake. There's an obvious mistake in the name, it says "USB" and not "UBS" (presuming it's pretending to be the Swiss bank UBS. The e-mail address itself, it has nothing to do with UBS!
  • The message is in German, the language you communicate with your bank with is determined by your personal settings/configuration with your bank. Does this language match your selection? If not, it is suspect immediately.
  • Do you bank with this particular bank? If not then of course this is obviously fake.
  • What are those strange question marks? It looks weird.
  • Does it look anything like the usual communication from your bank? In the example above it looks amateurish. The UBS logo is missing for example. Even if the logo is there, does it look normal? Question everything!
  • Typically banks are very careful with how they communicate with you. Always be wary of any e-mail that says it's from your bank, ask yourself if this makes sense or not - if ever in doubt contact your bank directly by phone before clicking anything!


Conclusion
Please delete such e-mails.Remember to always think before clicking any link or opening attachments. Always look at the from e-mail address first, it's usually a quick giveaway that this is a dodgy e-mail.

Block such e-mails and report them if your e-mail software allows. If you receive such a mail at work, contact your service/help desk and request they add it to their black list.

Be careful out there!

Also, the following is an interesting case of a fake DHL e-mail:
https://mgxp.blogspot.com/2017/08/malware-alert-beware-fake-dhl-e-mails.html

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