Be careful of emails that claim to be a savings bank and point out an obligation in accordance with Section 56 of the Data Protection Act, Paragraph 1B.

This email uses the logo and the Sparkasse's corporate design to create apparent authenticity. However, this email is an attempted fraud and the Sparkasse has no connection to this email.

The entire content of this email is:

Good day,

We hereby inform you in a timely manner that Sparkasse AG and subsidiaries of Sparkasse are obliged to regularly compare your customers' data in accordance with Section 56 of the Data Protection Act, paragraph 1B, from September 1st, 2018.

You have the option of having an employee carry out a comparison at the nearest branch for a fee of EUR 3.49. You also have the option of using the online verification process to compare your data free of charge.

The deadline for successfully completing the comparison ends on October 25, 2018. If the deadline has expired without any response, we reserve the right to initiate a postal comparison and claim any costs incurred.

For free online comparison

Visually, this email appears in the following way:

Screenshot Mimikama.at
Screenshot Mimikama.at

The aim of the email is to irritate the recipients so that they carry out the supposed data comparison online. However, the link to this data comparison leads to a phishing trap.

In our test case, our protection software directly prevented the creation of a fraudulent website.

Screenshot Mimikama.at
Screenshot Mimikama.at

This is what the Sparkasse says on this topic:

Phishing is a portmanteau of “password” and “fishing” and stands for stealing passwords. Data fishers send emails on a large scale that look as if they come from, for example, Amazon, Ebay or your savings bank. They want to get your passwords via a fake link. There's one thing you can do to prevent password theft: pay attention.

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Data fishers only want what’s best for you: your data

“Your account has been temporarily blocked” or “You need to update your access data” – these or similar are the subject lines and emails that try to steal your passwords during phishing. The urgent-sounding email lures you via a link to deceptively real-looking copies of the original website. You will then have to enter your secret number (PIN) or one-time password (TAN) on the manipulated pages. Supposedly to reactivate your account. Instead, the data thieves steal highly sensitive information.

The email scam sometimes comes across as a donation request or tax notice. As a winning message or discount offer. Or the password-stealing links can be found in messages that you receive from fellow players in online games. Also be alert for unsolicited text messages or messages from an app on your smartphone.

The best protection against phishing is healthy suspicion

You can protect yourself quite well against password theft. Most effective: Do not respond to messages of unknown origin. Ignore the request to enter data anywhere.

Your savings bank will never ask you to open websites from an email and enter your account details there. This also applies to every other bank and every professional Internet retailer.

Report suspicious emails to your savings bank. Forward it to warning@sparkasse.de. Your savings bank is checking the matter and preventing it from spreading further.

How to recognize password theft:

  • The subject lines and texts are often written in poor German. Unfortunately, the quality is getting better and better.
  • As a rule, it involves account suspensions, alleged identity theft, data comparison or similar. The emails specifically put pressure or panic on the recipient. Or they promise profits or special offers.
  • The text asks you to follow a link and enter data on a website.
  • The address in the Internet line often has spelling errors or transposed letters.
  • Fake websites usually do not have a closed lock symbol in the address bar of your browser. The line starts with http:// instead of the encrypted https://

How to protect yourself from password theft:

  • Ignore emails, SMS and app messages from unknown senders.
  • Never follow the links in such messages. Do not enter sensitive account information on these websites.
  • Always type in the Internet address of your savings bank yourself.
  • The lock symbol in your browser must always be closed when banking online.
  • The internet line must start with https:// (instead of the normal http://) for an encrypted connection.
  • Make sure the internet address is spelled correctly.
  • Check the “certificate” of the website: banks and many online retailers offer identity data. You can query this in the symbol next to the address line. For example, your internet protection program or the browser operator then confirms the authenticity of the page with “Verified by…”.
  • Only use private, secured Wi-Fi connections for your banking transactions. Public Wi-Fi homepages could be fake.

Here's how to react if you've fallen for password thieves:

If you have already replied to someone else's email or entered confidential data after clicking on a link, then:

  • Change your access data for your online banking transactions immediately.
  • Tell your savings bank immediately. It can prevent further damage.
  • If you still have the malicious email, send it to warning@sparkasse.de

Tips via: Sparkasse.de


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )