Scams are a part of life on the internet. Since the early days of the internet, there are those that are looking to take advantage of the unsuspecting or the misinformed. Those scams take various forms, but we need to stay vigilant to avoid them. Recently, Commonwealth Bank announced that there’s a verification scam circulating. This scam looks to steal personal information from users. Its the latest in a long line of scams we see every year.
Beware Commonwealth Bank Scams
Commonwealth Bank is warning patrons to ignore any emails asking for account verification. The scam is occurring via email. You’ll receive an email from the “Bank Fraud Department” saying that there is suspicious activity on your account and you need to verify your account to continue using it. You must then click the link to “verify your account.”
However, this is a complete scam. Banks and other institutions will not require that you click an email link to verify your account. If your account is suspended by a company, you will need to contact the company directly. A company never asks for you to verify your account over email.
What happens if you click the link and enter your data? That data goes to scammers who will use it for identity theft. Also, there’s a good chance your bank account will be drained.
If you receive this email, please delete it. For those that have received the email and went to the link, please contact Commonwealth Bank immediately.
Why Is This Important to the Online Gambling Community?
We already know what you’re thinking. How does a bank scam apply to online gambling? Gambling is often viewed as suspicious activity and there are instances where banks will block account access or limit access due to suspected gambling activity. Since some players will attempt to deposit at Australian online casinos using funds from Commonwealth Bank, it is a scam worth knowing about.
Banks do not generally disable access to bank accounts over online gambling. What happens is that a potential fraud alert is raised and one of two things happen. One, the online casino deposit you’re attempting to make will be blocked. Next, you may receive a notice from your bank asking to you call the fraud department.
Note, that a fraud department will never ask you to contact them via email or live chat to verify a charge. If the bank has an app that allows you to verify charges, it may instruct you to go into the app. Capital One has this type of functionality for their credit cards.
There Are Many Common Variants of This Scam
Verification scams come in numerous variants. There are times where the email will appear to be completely legit, down to matching all of the terms and conditions typically listed in legitimate corporate email.
However, there are a few key ways to spot this is a scam:
- The email asks you to click a link to verify your account. This is the #1 sign that the email is fraudulent.
- The email address is not a legitimate address. Don’t pay attention to the email label. Double click the address to see the physical address. It will either be a non-corporate email, gibberish, or blank.
- Highlight the link to reveal the address. You can see where the link will go by putting your mouse pointer over the link and letting it hover. This will make the link appear in a popup bubble. The link will always be some weird variation of the website, such as Netfllixco.com or Net-flix.co. Many links will not even be related to the company such as Bott.co.nz.
Never click any links or give out your personal information. Doing so will lead to identity theft. If you get an email like this and are not certain it is legit, call the company directly. If there is a problem, the customer service agent will tell you. Otherwise, ignore these scams and move on with your day.