Would you give your house keys, car keys or your mobile phone to a complete stranger? Highly unlikely!!

What about giving your wallet and credit cards to someone you meet in the street? Doubtful!!

• Click here to access the HSBC Online Security page for guidance on how to better protect yourself on the Internet

Never give your Security Device Code to anyone!

In no instance will any official from HSBC ask you to give your Security Device Code either via email or over the phone.

If you receive any such call and are unsure if it is genuine or not, ask the caller for their department and extension and then contact our Customer Service and ask to be put through.

If you receive a suspicious email, please read on ...

Never give your details online!

Never give your internet banking security passwords, telephone numbers or user names to anyone online. Never respond to emails requesting this information.

Phishing is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques where phishers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as username, passwords, the security device number & credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

These criminals also contact customers via email asking for their username, contact phone number, password and memorable answer. Should the customer reply to the email they then follow this up with a phone call asking for the Security Device Code.

Don’t be fooled. You will loose much more than a password or Security Code!

How to recognise a ficticious HSBC Site

Such emails contain a link which directs you to a ficticious HSBC site. Below are simple steps by which you may easily identify such a site:

• Website encryption

Such a fake site would not normally be encrypted. This is identified by the fact that the address of the site would not begin with "https://".

• Address bar is clearly not an HSBC domain

Clearly, links contained in phishing emails direct you to domains which are not HSBC registered.

A truly genuine HSBC webpage must be located in the one of the following domains:

www.hsbc.com.mt
online.hsbc.com.mt

When in doubt do not open these links and close your browser window without filling out any of your details.

Prevention is better than cure!

You can clearly prevent any such emails from reaching your mailbox by adopting 'anti-phishing' measures.

Such measures include :

• the setting up of a filter in your email in-box - contact your internet provider for more details;
• the setting up of internal phising site prevention within your browser. This feature is available in browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0.

What to do if you receive such an email?

If you receive an email message which you believe to be fraudulent:

• do not respond to the email
• do not click any links included in this email
• forward the email to infomalta@hsbc.com
• delete the email

Remember, HSBC will never ask you for your Personal Internet Banking information via email

For more information

• call our Customer Service on 2380 2380
• send us an email