HSBC Bank SMS Phishing Scam Targets UK Victims

A new phishing scam, designed to lure victims into handing over their HSBC bank account details, is targeting people in the UK. 

This scam was discovered by a litigation specialist Griffin Law. It starts with a bogus text message claiming to be from the banking and finance giant informing the receiver that a new payment has been made through the HSBC app on their phone. 

The victims are asked to visit a site “Security.hsbc.confirm-systems.com” if they have not made any payment. This directs them to a fake landing page where they are asked for their personal information like username and password, followed by a series of verification steps.

According to Griffin Law, almost 50 people in the UK have received such text messages so far. Some of them were able to identify the scams as they did not have a HSBC app installed in their mobile phones. Thankfully, there have been no more reports of the scam being successful, as per Griffin Law.

SVP, Barracuda Networks, Chris Ross,  said: 

“This is the latest in a long line of increasingly sophisticated phishing scams, designed to trick the victim into handing over their personal financial details. Increasingly, we are seeing examples of cyber-criminals using the branding of major banks to create realistic-looking fake websites, in order to extract personal financial information.”

All companies and users must remain vigilant of such scams to tackle the situation. SMS messages are often used by criminals to get a user’s personal mobile number. Security awareness within the workforce is crucial to trace and tackle such scams.