Security Alert of email scam

Attempts of fraud through email are more and more frequent. Email Scams or Phishing is an attempt to obtain your personal and confidential information by impersonating a trusted source through an email communication.

How the Scams Work

A hacker sends an unsolicited email or instant message to customers to lead them into disclosing confidential personal information. The deceptive email suggests clicking on a link or attachment for any one of the following reasons:

• Request to change / update to personal information
• Potential of privacy or security breaches
• Winning of a contest
• Possible suspension of client cards or accounts
• Application for products

After clicking on the attachment or link from the email scam, the user is taken to a fake site that looks almost identical to the original website known by the user.  It may sometimes be extremely hard to detect that the website is fake.  This fake site requests from the user confidential personal information, which could include:

• Username
• Account Numbers
• Personal Identification Numbers (PINs)
• Credit and Debit Card Numbers
• Other Personal or Private Information
• Passwords

How to identify the phishing attempt

• These types of scams are most of the time sent as unsolicited emails.
• Many phishing emails begin with a general greeting, such as “Dear Client.”
  If your first and last names are not displayed, be suspicious and do not click on any links or buttons.  However, having your name displayed does not always mean the email is genuine.
• Messages may imply a sense of urgency or immediate risk to bank accounts or credit cards if you fail to answer. For example, they may state that an unauthorized transaction has recently occurred on your account, or claim that BLC Bank is updating its records/services and requires information immediately to ensure continued access to your holdings.
• Phishing emails often contain misspellings, incorrect grammar, or missing words.
• They contain attachments or links to fraudulent sites that are designed to mimic the look and feel of a genuine site.
• Although it might not always apply, the web address of the site will often have the @ symbol or a numeric address (e.g. 123.456.1.2). The address may also include the word, phrase or text “BLC or eBank” to make it appear authentic.

How to Help Protect Yourself

It is very important to understand how you can help protect yourself from email fraud and web sites that request your personal or banking information:

• If you receive an email claiming to be from a member of BLC Bank (example customer.service@blcbank.com or customerservicecare@blcbank.com) that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click on the link in the email.
• Remember, BLC Bank never requests personal or financial information in unsolicited emails. To ensure that the email is legitimate, contact us immediately.
• Never follow a link received by email to access your banking website, always type yourself the address in the address bar of your browser or access it from the homepage of BLC Bank
• Always check the address bar when clicking on a link to make sure you have not been redirected to another website

Our bank website is www.blcbank.com
our ebank address is https://www.your-ebank.com/blcbank

• BLC Bank will send you an SMS for each successful and failed login attempt. As such, if anybody is trying to hack into your account, you will be notified from the 1st attempt.  You are then urged to change your password a.s.a.p. and to notify us.
• Make sure the verification photo you have previously selected is displayed on the screen where you are asked to enter your password.  This photo helps you ensure you are on the genuine BLC eBank site before you do so.
• Always make sure that the “Security Lock” icon is displayed on the status bar of your browser and that clicking on it displays “www.your-ebank.com”