Capital One customers who have received email or SMS text messages like the one below, which claim their debit cards have been deactivated, should delete the messages and should not follow the instructions in them. This is because the messages are being sent by cyber criminals to frighten and trick potential victims into clicking on the links in them, which go to phishing websites that steal Capital One online account credentials.
The "Capital One Your Debit Card Has Been De-Activated" Phishing Scam
From: Capital One <secure.unlocksecurity.capsalert.unlockaccount.myaccount@safecap.com>
Sent: Wed, Aug 16, 2017 2:26 pm
Subject: Your Debit Card Has Been De-Activated
Visit Capital One Sign In
Account Verification Needed.
Dear Customer,
Due to the system upgrade, we recommend all Capitalone Members to Verify their Account Informations before the next 24hours.
This is to Avoid your Account being locked and Hold your membership with CapitalOne.
This should take not more than 5minute of your time!. Sign In with the Link below to Hold your Account Status Now.
Sign In
Did you know? Paying more than the minimum amount due on your account each month can save you money in finance charges.
Capital One customers who have received messages claiming that they need to do some activity on their accounts, such always go directly to https://www.capitalone.com/ and sign into their accounts. Once they have signed in, they will be notified of security updates, notifications and other important notifications. So, there is no need to click on a link in an email message, which may go to phishing or malicious website.
Also, Capital One customers who have already been tricked by the phishing messages, are asked to change their passwords and contact Capital One immediately, before their accounts are hijacked and used fraudulently by cyber criminals.