By Lucy Caulkett-
The HSBC bank has sent an urgent warning to its customers in the UK after a new text scam has emerged trying to dupe customers out of their personal details.
The message comes in the wake of companies like Royal Mail, the NHS and HMRC , all of whom have issued warnings over similar scams.
The scam involves recipients receiving either a text message or an email that appears to be from the banking firm, and is the latest example of fraudsters trying to take advantage of the current climate as more people are doing their shopping and banking online.
A text message claiming to be from HSBC reads: “HSBC: A payment to MR/MRS [insert name] has been attempted on [insert date] at [insert time]. If this was NOT you, please visit:”
A URL link is attached to the message which will take users to a fake page giving the scammers an opportunity to clone personal details.
HSBC has moved to warn its customers that this is in fact a scam and urged customers not to click on the link.
Similar scams are affecting other hight street banks in the UK.
HSBC said: “If you’ve received a text message that looks like it may have come from HSBC, have a look here to see if it really did come from us.
“Criminals have become very sophisticated in enticing you to click on links or call phone numbers that belong to them.
“They pretend to be an organisation you trust, like your bank, utility company, internet provider or even the police or HMRC.
“We won’t contact you from a normal mobile number other than the examples below.
“You might receive other texts from us, depending on your marketing preferences. If in doubt, don’t respond – call us on the normal number on the back of your card.”
Members of the public are no strangers to falling victim to scams, which often puts pressure on banks to investigate claims and re-imburse victims as speedily as possible.