Bank of Valletta has urged customers to ignore fraudulent e-mails, purporting to be from the bank.

It said that a number of customers had received e-mails, purporting to be from Bank of Valletta. They state that the customer’s account is set to expire and, through a link included in the e-mail message, the e-mails directs the customer to a counterfeit website where he/she is asked to log in to his/her Internet Banking account.

This email was sent through a technique known as Phishing - a form of online fraud and identity theft in which a malicious third party attempts to convince customers to visit a counterfeit bank website, in order to steal identity data and financial information.

Such sites are designed to mimic authentic bank websites so as to lure the visitor in thinking that he/she is actually logged on to the bank's genuine site. 

 Bank of Valletta said it will never request login credentials, PINs or credit card details through e-mail, telephone or other means of communication.

It said that customers  never follow links directly from emails but to type the Bank's url, i.e. www.bov.com, directly on their web browser when they wish to visit the BOV website.

Customers should always be vigilant and observe standard information security precautions. More details are available on the BOV website at www.bov.com

For more information, customers may also contact BOV’s Customer Service Centre on telephone 21312020.