• With whom do you bank?
• How long have you banked with them?
• Are you satisfied with the service?

The operator claims they are completing the survey on behalf of the ABA. This is false.
 
Steven Münchenberg, Chief Executive of the ABA, said, “The ABA does not carry out customer satisfaction surveys. A bank customer has alerted us to this so-called ‘survey’ and told us he terminated the call after becoming suspicious.”

“We are concerned, however, that if the call had continued, the customer would have been asked for personal identification details for use by criminals.”

The ABA advises that if you receive a call such as this, just hang up.  If you have provided any information over the telephone, then you should immediately contact your bank, which will take action to protect and monitor your account.

2. Hoax e-mail

The hoax e-mail claims that the bank is seeking to meet new requirements from the ABA and to do so, customers must verify account information by clicking on a link in the e-mail. The customer is then asked to insert confidential information on a hoax website. This is false.

Mr Münchenberg said: “The ABA is not asking banks to meet new security requirements which are being described by the criminals in the hoax e-mail.”

It is important to remember that your bank will never ask you for PINs or confidential Internet banking details. This information is the key to your account and should always be kept confidential.”

If you have clicked on the link and provided information, please immediately contact your bank and it will take action to protect and monitor your account.

Tips to protect your financial identity

• Don’t provide your PIN or Internet banking login or password to anyone;
• Guard the following identity information carefully and only provide to trusted people and entities: date of birth, current address, driver’s licence number and passport details.
• Delete spam and scam e-mail – if the offer sounds too good to be true – it probably is;
• Keep your anti-virus and firewall software up-to-date;
• Do not respond to requests that ask you to call unknown or un-verified phone numbers. Generally only trust numbers that appear on the back of your cards, or can be verified through a phone directory or other trusted source; and
• Be very careful about clicking on links in e-mails. Do not use links to access websites. Enter the correct address for websites into the address bar of your browser.