The fake "Santander A New Message or Other Communication has Arrived" email message below has a malicious Microsoft Word document attached. The fake email message is being sent by cyber-criminals who are attempting to infect their potential victims' computers with spyware or other malware that they can use to steal their personal and financial information. Therefore, recipients of the same email are asked to delete it and should not attempt to open the attachment.
The Phishing Santander Bank Email Message
From: "Santander" <message@santandersm.co.uk>
Date: 5 June 2018 at 11:52:59 BST
Subject: A new message or other communication has arrived
Attachment: SecureMessage.doc 17 KB
Santander
Secure Message
A new message or other communication has arrived from Santander Protect Message Center and Email Encryption, email encryption service delivers you personal, financial or confidential information. To ensure the highest level of security this message has been encrypted, please check attached document for more information.
Santander Message Center lets you confidently receive and send emails including attachments sent by your Santander representatives, knowing your personal information is secure. Always Remember - members of Santander will NEVER request personal or financial information through unsolicited emails.
Download attached document by 2018-06-06 02:55 GMT to read your message. After that, either open the attachment or request the sender to re-send the message. If you have concerns about the validity of this message, please contact Santander directly.
This message was sent to you as a Santander customer, to tell you about important information concerning your account. Please do not reply to this email. It has been sent from an email address that does not accept incoming emails. Santander will never ask you to supply personal information such as passwords or other security information via email. As an additional security measure, every customer email will be addressed to you personally. If you receive an email from Santander which is not personally addressed to you, or an email requesting personal information, please report this to phishing@santander.co.uk.
You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website www.fca.org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768.
The attachment is a Microsoft Word document that contains a Microsoft Office Macro virus that will infect the recipients' computer with a virus if they open it and click on "Enable Editing."
Recipients of the malicious email who have attempted to open it are asked to scan their computers for virus using the antivirus software installed on their computers.
Victims of the malicious emails may also be redirected to phishing or fake websites that steal their online account credentials, personal and financial information. If you think you are a victim, please change your online account passwords and contact Santander Bank for help.