An e-mail claiming to be from Wells Fargo asking customers for personal and financial information is fraudulent and should not be answered, the bank said Wednesday.
The e-mail apparently was sent late Tuesday night, according to Wendy Tazelaar, compliance manager for the bank's Web site, wellsfargo.com. The bank launched an investigation soon after, but the source of the e-mail is still unknown, as is how many people received it, Tazelaar said.
However, she said, the fraudsters have no specific information about Wells Fargo's customers.
"There's no specific customer out there from Wells Fargo that they're targeting," she said. "It's a generic list they're using. They don't know who our customers are."
The message states, "Dear Wells Fargo valued customer! Please read this important message about security. We are working very hard to protect our customers against fraud. Your account has been randomly chosen for verification. This is requested to us to verify that you are the real owner of this account. All you need to do is to click on the link below. You will see a verification page. Please complete all fields that you will see and submit the form. You will be redirected to Wells Fargo home page after verification. Please note that if you don't verify your ownership of account in 24 hours we will block it to protect your money. Thank you."
The message directs respondents to a Web site, www.wellsfargo.com/verify/ to fill in requested information. Tazelaar said the site was shut down by 11 a.m. Wednesday, and customer accounts are safe.
"Wells Fargo and its systems have not been compromised in any way," Tazelaar said. "When you're banking online at Wells Fargo, everything you do online, all of your transactions are guaranteed."
Still, Wells spokeswoman Wendy Grover reminded customers that Wells Fargo will never request password, user name or other confidential information by e-mail. E-mails requesting such information, even when from a wellsfargo.com Web address, should be discarded.
"These types of fishing e-mails have been going on for some time now, in recent months targeting other major banks," Grover said. "This latest one is targeting Wells Fargo.
"We will never request password or other personal information by e-mail. . . . We've alerted our stores and phone bankers of the situation. . . . But the key to combating these kinds of fraud is a strong collaborative effort between us and our customers."
As a rule of thumb, Tazelaar advised computer users to delete all e-mail where the message or sender is unknown, and never click on links embedded in suspicious e-mails. If the suspicious e-mail is from Wells Fargo, she said, "give us a call and we'll let you know if it's from us or not."
Tazelaar also maintained that Internet banking and online bill-paying are safe ways for customers to manage their finances.
"You are 10 percent less likely to be the victim of identity theft or fraud if you bank or pay your bills online," she said, adding that most fraud is still committed "offline" — stealing information from mailboxes or trash bins.
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com