A user forwarded us a suspicious email from “private customers” that supposedly came from Postbank. Since she is not a customer of this bank, it was immediately clear to her that this must be a fake. She sent us screenshots to publish to warn other users. – Thank you for forwarding this point.

Subject: “important: enable strong client authentication”

The content of the email states that from October 12th, a security procedure such as BestSign or chipTAN will be required to log in to Postbank Banking & Brokerage.

Look at the sender address

In the screenshot of the email you can immediately see that the sender's address is not an official Postbank email address. This doesn’t use an account from “livemail.co.uk”.

Screenshot of fake email in the name of Postbank
Screenshot of fake email in the name of Postbank

The actual trap can be found at the end of the email. A link to the online banking login area. Correct at first glance, but behind it there is almost certainly a fake banking page through which the login details entered are intercepted by the fraudsters behind this email.

MIMIKAMA
Screenshot of fake email in the name of Postbank

How do you protect yourself from phishing emails?

No bank asks its customers via email to provide personal information or passwords. Be careful with links that lead to online banking. The text that is displayed for a link does not always mean that exactly that URL is being accessed.

If you are unsure, it is always advisable and easiest to ask your bank directly.

Postbank also gives on its website on how to recognize phishing emails and protect yourself from them:

  • Check the sender address: Often fake email addresses only differ from real addresses by a small detail. The bank has listed all email addresses used to communicate with customers HERE .
  • Verification of access data by email: If access data is requested in an email and supposedly verified, extreme caution is advised. This is not Postbank's approach. You should immediately be suspicious here.
  • Grammar and spelling errors: Phishing emails can often be recognized by errors in the text, as these are automatically translated from other languages. Such emails often also lack umlauts.
  • Virus scanner and firewall: These tools should not be missing on any PC, tablet and/or smartphone. They often detect phishing and fake websites and issue a warning. To do this, it is essential to keep this software and the operating system up to date.

Postbank’s current security procedures

We have directly asked whether the information provided is correct, so customers may therefore assume that the message is correct. We received the following information:

“The mobileTAN process was switched off for private customers in September 2019 . The chipTAN procedure on May 24th, 2022. Information about our current security procedures can be found on our homepage at Postbank BestSign .”

Source:

Postbank.de
You might also be interested in: Trojan warning: email with tax notice


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Notes:
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