E-MAIL Internet fraud

We want to advise you that criminals have developed very effective and sophisticated methods to collect personal information from unsuspecting Visa cardholders by using e-mails and the duplication of legitimate Internet web sites. You may be one of those unsuspecting cardholders are caught in one of these fraudulent schemes, when your Visa account information or personal information is captured and then used to commit fraud.

There has been an increase in the number of complaints from the public regarding unsolicited e-mails asking for verification of personal or financial information. These e-mails are used in a scheme called "phishing" where the e-mail appears to originate from your bank, Internet service provider (ISP) or Visa. The e-mail informs the recipient that they need to validate or update information in the sender's records to keep the account active and instructs the recipient to click on an attached link.

The enclosed link will lead the person to the duplicate of a legitimate web site referred to as a "spoof" site where they are asked to sign-on, using personal information such as name, account number, PIN or passwords. Some of these "spoof" sites have very elaborate questionnaires, which in addition to Visa account information solicit bank account information, addresses, PINs, and national identification or registration numbers. Once the recipient's information is entered, it is captured and used for illegal activities.

Please be advised that Visa will never send you an e-mail asking for confidential information such as account numbers, passwords, PIN numbers, credit card numbers or personal information.

How can I protect myself?

• We strongly urge you not to provide personal information to anyone via e-mails on the Internet and you should be familiar with the customer authentication methods used by web sites they you visit regularly.
• You should be suspicious of e-mails that inform you, with little notice, that a your service will be discontinued or your account will be closed, unless information is confirmed. You should not click on the link/URL attached to the e-mail. Instead, you should contact the company or institution by phone or by entering the company's known URL in the Internet browser's address bar and reaching their web site.
• Avoid submitting information through a web site before checking for the "lock" icon on the browser's status bar. This will indicate that the information is traveling through a secure channel.
• If you receive an unsolicited e-mail, do not click on the "remove me" option button included in the e-mail, because in many cases this is used to identify active e-mail addresses. This will cause the unsolicited e-mails to continue.
• Always review your credit card and bank account statements as soon as they are received to determine if there are any unauthorized charges or activity.

Should you receive any un-solicited e-mails asking you for Visa account information, do not respond to the e-mail and contact your bank for further investigation.