Lloyds Bank ‘Pending E-Payment’ Phishing Scam
The original site is no longer online; links go to the Internet Archive copy.
What the fact-checkers found
According to this message, which purports to be from the UK’s Lloyds Bank, a pending e-payment sent to your account could not be completed. The email lists some possible reasons for the problem. It notes that you are “strongly advice” to click a link to confirm the incoming payment and thereby avoid a service suspension.
However, the email is not from Lloyds. It is a phishing scam designed to trick you into handing over your financial information to online criminals. If you click the link, you will be taken to a fake Lloyds Bank website and asked to login. After “logging in” on the fake page, you will be taken to a second bogus page that asks you to provide your credit card details and other information related to your bank account.
Finally, you will be redirected to the genuine Lloyds website.
But, alas, the criminals can use the information they harvested via the fake website to hijack your bank account as well as conduct fraudulent credit card transactions in your name.
Phishing scams like this one are very common and almost continually target customers of major banks and financial institutes around the world. Be very wary of any unsolicited email that claims that you must click a link or open an attached file to rectify an account issue.
It is always safest to login to all of your online accounts by entering the account address into your browser’s address bar or via an official company app.
Dear Lloyds Bank Customer,
There is a pending E-Payment into your account from our account department. This could not be completed.
The main reason for this could be as a result of the following
Recent changes in Billing Address
Recent changes in memorable word or Access Code
Unauthorized use of credit card payments
Abuse & Term of Use
You are strongly advice to rectify this by reviewing your online profile with us using the secure reference below to avoid service suspension.
Confirm Pending Incoming Payment
Yours sincerely,
Ashley Machin
Digital Banking Director 2015
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