Security and banking

Phishing

Phishing involves a fraudster trying to “fish” for sensitive information by using e-mail, telephone or social media.

E-mail
This usually relates to someone sending you an e-mail which appears to have been sent from a trustworthy organisation, such as your bank. The fraudster then tries to trick you to provide the information needed to log on to your online banking service. No bank asks for information of this kind, particularly not by e-mail.

Telephone and SMS text-message
Someone calls you saying that they represent a company with which you are familiar. For example, the caller may say that they are a support company that wants to help you with a problem they allege that you have with your computer, such as a virus. This phenomenon is called false support. With the help of conversation techniques, they try to trick you into revealing your PIN, response codes or card number. Trustworthy customers don’t contact customers in this way.

Social media
On social media, we often assume that we are talking to our friends, but if we are unlucky, it may be someone with completely different objectives. It is not uncommon for individuals to have their social media accounts hijacked. The fraudster then tries to trick friends of the individual into revealing their response codes so that he or she can log on to their online banking service. If one of your friends asks you about response codes or card numbers, it is very likely that it is not your friend who is asking the question.

Remember:
Don’t let anyone control your computer remotely. If you receive an e-mail in the name of Handelsbanken, with questions about your log-on information, you should never answer it or click on any links which may be included in the message. 

Do not use links to Handelsbanken that you receive as part of an e-mail or SMS text message. Instead, enter Handelsbanken’s address directly into the browser.

Viruses or trojans

A virus or a trojan is a programme which contains harmful code. Using the virus or the trojan, the fraudster intends to steal personal information from your computer, tablet or mobile phone. Some trojans allow the fraudster to take control of your computer over the internet, without you being aware that this is happening. Viruses can be spread by e-mail when you receive an e-mail containing an attached file.

Remember:
Use an updated antivirus program. Do not open links and attached files which you receive by e-mail or SMS text message if you don’t know what they contain. Nor should you answer messages when the sending party is unknown.

It is also important to notice if websites you use regularly, such as the log-on page for Handelsbanken Online Banking, look different in any way. This may be an indication that your computer has been attacked and that in reality you have ended up on a different site than that of Handelsbanken.

Don’t modify the operating system of your mobile phone by, for example, jailbreaking your phone. Jailbreaking involves unlocking Apple’s software blocks to get access to the complete file system of the IOS unit. By doing so, virus and trojans may be included in any apps you download in the future.