HSBC Phishing Scam - You Have 1 New Security Message

It is already clear from the very first line, that this e-mail did not originate from HSBC.



Do you really think HSBC will go through all the trouble of sending an e-mail to tell you that there is some kind of new security message in your Inbox Folder? What Inbox Folder? This e-mail is not your normal request to update your personal information or to lift some kind of restriction placed on your account. No they want you to log onto your online banking account and read some kind of security message. Novice users may easily see this as a legitimate e-mail, because it doesn't contain the normal characteristics of a banking phishing scam. Most financial services providers will never send any kind of login request or a link to a login page via e-mail. The small number of banks who still do, need to catch a wakeup.



It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.



The scammer's last attempt to claim a victim. If the victim didn't bite the story about the security alert (or wasn't bothered by it), perhaps he/she will have the desire to disable these alerts. If you really want to log onto you online banking account, never use the link supplied in the e-mail, visit the official HSBC website and use the log on option from there.

Did you notice that the e-mail appears to be pasted as a quotation (in Firefox only). We are not exactly sure if this was done intentional by the scammer or whether the e-mail became corrupted when it was reported to us. Either way, we believe that an organisation like HSBC will always make sure that their e-mails uphold a high level of professionalism, something that is obviously missing from this e-mail.