I got this e-mail the other day, titled IMPORTANT: Urgently Update Account:

************

Dear Chase account holder,

We recently reviewed your account, and suspect that your Chase Internet Banking account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party. Protecting the security of your account and of the Chase Bank network is our primary concern. Therefore, as a preventative measure, we have temporarily limited access to sensitive account features.

To restore your account access, please take the following steps to ensure that your account has not been compromised:

1. Login to your Chase Internet Banking account. In case you are not enrolled for Internet Banking, you will have to use your Social Security Number as both your Personal ID and Password.

2. Review your recent account history for any unauthorized withdrawals or deposits, and check your account profile to make sure not changes have been made. If any unauthorized activity has taken place on your account, report this to Chase staff immediately.

To get started, please click the link below:

(Link)

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and appreciate your assistance in helping us maintain the integrity of the entire Chase system. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.


Sincerely,

The Chase Bank Team

Please do not reply to this e-mail. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. For assistance, log in to your Chase Bank account and choose the "Help" link in the header of any page.

2006 JPMorgan Chase & Co.


Click Logon Now to update your account and your security details.

**********

I'm pretty sure it's a scam, since I don't have any account with Chase, on-line or otherwise.

Also, it says In case you are not enrolled for Internet Banking, you will have to use your Social Security Number as both your Personal ID and Password.

How could they send me this email if I'm not "enrolled for internet banking" in the first place?

It all looks so official though, with the Chase logo and everything all over it.

Anyone else see or get something like this?

Out of curiosity, did you get this through Yahoo? Because it does take spams to the bulk folder and I never check that folder. I used to work with AmSouth and they use the SSN and the pin number for the associated debit card as the primary means to set up your internet banking. Then you could've decided to use an ID and password after you logged in for the first time.

But if you don't have an account with whatever bank that it is, it only plans to steal your SSN. I think you better take that link out, someone might actually try that.

I got it through Hotmail.

I tried the link, and it seems harmless - they just seem to want your SSN - but maybe you're right, so I took it out.

If it steals your SSN, it is harmful. Numerous and unplanned credit checks are harmful.

JUST want your SSN?? This is truly very dangerous. There's a similar phone scam where the caller says that they're from the local board of jurors and you're being arrested for not showing up for jury duty. When you protest that you never received a notice, they ask for your SSN so that they can clear up the mess. BINGO! Now they've got you.

You should save that email, print it out, and bring it to your local branch next time you go to the bank. Even if you verify its authenticity, it's still a horrible policy for banks to be sending out messages asking for SSNs.

There is no "next time I go to the bank" with them. I don't even know where there is a branch near me.

I don't have any accounts with Chase. I should probably bring it to the D.A.'s office.

I guess using Chase is the safest for them, as it is the largest, and most people have some kind of account there. I would think that many people end up with accounts at Chase thanks to all the mergers.

Definitely a scam!!

It's most definitely a scam e-mail. It is just one amongst thousands. They try it making believe that they are from e-bay, paypal, and other various financial institutions. ANd they get the logos down pat! But never reply to an e-mail repquestiong personal information. If you happen to belong to a bank or a credit card company and you recieve an e-mail requesting personal information, alwys call them with a phone number that you already have from a statement or visit the branch instead.

The e-mails that I love the most are the ones that are supposed to be from a foreign diplomat from Nigeria or foreign investor from South Africa which tells you that they have $500,000 sitting in their bank overseas that they need to disperse as a gift and will wire transfer it over to your bank if you provide your banking information. There was an article in my local newspaper this past week about these exact e-mails and you wouldn't believe how many people actually fall for this scam!

You can forward the e-mail to the financial institution that they claim they are from along with an explanation of how you recieved it and what they are asking for.

http://www.jpmorganchase.com/cm/cs?pagename=Chase/Href&urlname=jpmc/about/contac tus


Don Cardi

Total scam. Unless you initiate something, never give your ssn out online or over the phone. And if someone tells you the only way you can pay for something is to give them your checking account number, don't do it.

Your presumably real link to Chase, DC, looks exactly like the one in the email.

Amazing how they get the logos and everything down pat so perfectly.

I wonder how many people fall for this kind of stuff?

No, it's not the real link. :rolleyes:

Of course it is!

Yes, amazing how they make the e-mail look so official using the logos and stuff.

I had a similar e-mail sent to me from what appeared to be one of my banks. I called my bank and gave an explanation of what the e-mail said, and they had me forward the e-mail to them. Of course it turned out to be a scam. There have even been cases where someone working within the bank itself is running a scam! The bank told me NEVER to give any personal information over the internet or the phone to someone claiming to be from a bank. A finacial institution will NEVER make you give your complete social security number over the phone or through an e-mail. They always either ask for the last four numbers or the first three to verify who they are talking to.

According to the article that I read, many people fall for these internet/phone scams.

As PT Barnum said " There's a sucker born everyday."


Don Cardi

Plaw I got an email from Chase the other day too that didn't seem to legit but I haven't really looked at it yet.

Do you have an account with them?

I'd be interested in kmowing if it was the same one I got.

Flame has an account with them, I can't seem to find the e-mail now she might have gone on last night and deleted it but I know it was something from Chase and had urgent or something like that in the title of the e-mail.

My only advice (which I'm sure you know) but maybe to others out there who are new to computer banking or computers in general: whenever you get an email from any company asking for information just call up the help service, there is absolutely nothing that would HAVE to be entered from a computer and not by phone.

I got an email a while ago at work that needed me to update a discover card I think it was (even though I don't have discover) and it said something to the tune of "please update your personal information and enter your SSN# as your password to verify changes" then this part came "due to overwhelming calls to our customer service and the importance of this information please complete the form at the link provided so we can better serve you" :rolleyes:

Hm. I always try to report spam.
Yours looks dangerous.
I've just got a strange e-mail that wasn't identified as spam and came to my inbox. There's no text and an attached file in rtf format. I wonder, can there be something harmful, like virus, in rtf file?

I get them all the time, they're total scams. Why would a bank I have NO dealings with email me for my SSN, the most damaging thing you could give out online?

It's easy to tell if they're legit or not - look at the URL! (even those can appear real, but they're obviously not once you visit them) However, visiting such maliscious sites is a bad idea, anyway - who knows what malware they could install on your computer.

NO LEGIT COMPANY WILL *EVER* ASK FOR SUCH PRIVATE INFO VIA EMAIL!

How much convincing do you need?

I get tons of similar spam presumably from PayPal. They may LOOK legit, but they obviously aren't - Just look at the URL!

Legit: http://www.paypal.com/ [paypal.com]
Legit: http://paypal.com/ [paypal.com]
Legit: https://paypal.com [paypal.com secure site]

NOT!!: http://www.paypal-secure.site.com/ [really site.com]
NOT!!: http://www.paypal.legit.com/ [really legit.com]
NOT!!: http://216.114.206.173/page/update/ [numbers hide address]

And be careful with addresses that include strings of shit like this ?r=56hsdadfgja0943jkl because they're probably looking to see if YOU, personally, clicked on the link.

The one I just got even talks about "PayPal's world class fraud investigators share 5 important actions you can take to help prevent identity theft and protect your account."

Very tempting, huh??

Welcome to the increasing risk of identity theft because victims don't pay attention!

And NEVER REPLY to a spam -- it just confirms that your email address is active, and you'll get even more when they sell your address to other spammers!

PayPal puts this Security Advisory in their legit emails:

They can use tricks to display one URL in your status bar when you hover over it, yet take you somewhere else once you click on it.

It's easy. Every browser has "save as" in it.

It is just unbelievable what goes on if you're not careful. I think I shared this story once, but will again. We have friends who were having trouble with their computer. They asked my husband to come over and take a look at it. As my husband was rebooting their computer, he noticed that when the computer started up, so did their webcam, although there were no programs open that were running it. It seems that someone had sent them a trojan horse, and was manipulating their webcam to spy inside their home. Verrrrry scary stuff.

Exactly why I will not get a web cam. If I need to see someone face to face I'll get in my car and go to see them.

A woman that works with me has a husband who is currently serving over in Iraq. She has a webcam so that they can talk and see each other. Very understandable of course. However she told me that she disconnects it when she is not talking with him because of the exact reason that you pointed out above.


Don Cardi

Tho I don't use it much, I have a cam. But when it's not being used, it's pointed toward something so you can't see anything, and the mic is muted...

But, that is pretty damn scary!!

You should also NEVER click on links like this, especially from these phishing scams, because they could lead to sites with applet/java loaders that will give you a trojan, or they could attempt to get into your PC and such through port attacks.

Every month a guy I work with gets one of those Chase emails. I kept telling him,"Don't click on the link, its a scam." But did he listen? Noooooooooooooooo. He doesn't even have a Chase account.

Somebody got his credit card number as a result and charged up an bunch of stuff. Eh, I told him not to.

Some of the eBay ones I've seen are really interesting because the scam artists get them down so well.

Then there are ones that are so badly written you think "How could anyone fall for that?"

Yet another reason why you should just create a "junk" mail account, which you can use to register for sites and such. That way, your personal email remains relatively anonymous.

Google's Gmail and AOL's free Instant Messenger Email are two fine examples of this.