Barclays customers hit by fraudsters over festive period

Many consumers that bank with Barclays have been receiving fraudulent emails from scam artists over the festive period, with the content of the emails designed to persuade them to provide their financial data such as account details and personal information. Millions of emails were sent out to Barclays customers over the Christmas period, with the fraudsters claiming to be from the Protection Department of the UK banking giant.

The emails that were sent out had the official Barclays logo on, as well as links to help line numbers. The emails went on to ask consumers to complete their account and financial information online. The conmen were then able to use this information to access customers’ accounts and conduct further fraudulent activity. The process of sending out fraudulent emails and setting up fake websites to obtain customers’ financial and personal details is known as phishing, and this is an activity that has seen a real increase over recent years.

Barclays officials have gone on to advise consumers that they should never respond to this type of email, as the bank states it would never send out an email asking a customers to provide their financial details. The bank also warned that anyone that has already responded to these emails by providing their data should contact the bank as soon as possible in order to get their bank account frozen to minimize the risk of further fraudulent activity on their account.

One Barclays spokesperson stated: ‘This is a mean thing to do at this time of the year. What these are, and our anti-fraud guys will have picked them up, are phishing emails. Barclays would never ask customers for personal details in e-mails. If customers get them, they should delete them straight away and not enter any details.’

For more free advice try any of the following sites:

• Citizen’s Advice
• Direct Gov
• FSA’s Money Made Clear

Tags: fraud, email, customers, christmas, scam, Banking