SunTrust Bank customers are asked to be aware of fake email messages like the one below, which are phishing scams being used by cyber-criminals to steal personal and banking information. The fake email messages claim that SunTrust Bank is performing mandatory account verification. The fake messages then further state that the recipients must click the links within them in order to perform an account verification or else their accounts will be disabled or blocked. But, the links will only take the recipients who have clicked on it, to a phishing website, looking like SunTrust Bank’s website, where they will be asked to sign-in with their account credentials. Once the victims enter their account credentials on the fake website, it will be sent to the cyber-criminals behind the scam, who will use it to gain to access to their victims’ accounts, where they will steal the victims’ money and use their accounts fraudulently.
A Sample of the Phishing SunTrust Bank Email Messages
Date: Sun 20/11/2016 19:06
From: Stephanie Tejeda
Important Service Update
Dear SunTrust Bank Customer:
We are performing mandatory account verification. All account holders are required to help us perform this check by signing in using the link below immediately once this email is received.
To proceed, Log in below
Log in to Online Banking
If this is not done your account may be disabled or blocked.
Please don't reply directly to this automatically-generated e-mail message.
Sincerely,
Online Banking Team
It is important for internet users to remember that they should never click on a link to sign into their online accounts, especially links in email messages. The safest way to sign into their online accounts is to go directly to their online account providers’ websites, by typing the addresses of the websites in their web browsers or using a popular search engine to find the websites.
For example:
SunTrust’s customers should go directly to: “https://www.suntrust.com/” in their web browsers or search for “SunTrust Bank” using a popular search engine. The link in the phishing email message sample above goes to the following fraudulent website: "www.suntrust-up.net."
And, if there is something wrong with their accounts or there is something that they need to do, they will be notified right after signing in.
Recipients of the phishing SunTrust email, who have clicked on the link and have attempted to sign into the phishing website with their accounts’ credentials, should change their passwords and contact SunTrust Bank immediately.