How to Report an Email Scam to Your Bank

If you have received a spoof email that claims to be from your bank, you will need to report the email to your bank as soon as possible. This will help to prevent others from being scammed, and may help catch whoever is trying to do the scamming.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• An email account
• Online banking access
• A computer with Internet access

1. Visit your bank’s Web site by typing in the address or using a bookmark.
2. Once you have signed in, look for contact information specifically for reporting scamming.
3. If you cannot find a specific email address to contact, email the general inbox with your concerns. If at all possible, you should forward the spoof email.
4. If you are still concerned, call your bank to ask for help.
5. When your bank tells you that it is ok, delete the spoofed email.

Tips & Warnings

• Always type in the address of the site you want to visit, i.e. paypal.com versus clicking a link.
• If you get an email saying that your account is about to be deleted and signing in to the Web site does not produce a similar message, you can be pretty certain that the email is a fake.
• Never give out personal information like account numbers over your email.
• Never use email links to get to important Web sites like your bank's.
• Don’t rely on reading the link or address bar. There are ways to change these displays to fool you and your computer.