HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
EAST HAWAII CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION
CAPTAIN SAMUEL THOMAS
PHONE: 961-2251
NOVEMBER 9, 2004

MEDIA RELEASE

The e-mail scammers are at it again.

This time, a group purporting to be from the Citibank Customer Service, is sending e-mail entitled, “Citibank Alerting Service.”

The message, which includes a Citibank logo, says, in part: “We were unable to process the recent transactions on your account. To ensure that your account is not suspended, please update your information by clicking here.”

The actual Citibank website warns against “spoof e-mails.” It says, “Although they can be difficult to spot, they generally ask you to click a link back to a spoof web site and provide, update or confirm sensitive personal information. To bait you, they may allude to an urgent or threatening condition concerning your account.”

Captain Samuel Thomas, head of the East Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division, said what the scammers are really after is financial information such as your password on PIN number, credit card validation (CCV) code or your bank account number.

“Even if you don’t give them the information they ask for, simply by clicking the link could make you vulnerable to background installation of spy software or computer viruses,” Thomas said.

“To keep yourself and your computer protected, never click on a link contained in a suspicious e-mail.”

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