E-mail

Counterfeit Web sites

Online thieves often direct you to fraudulent Web sites via email and pop-up windows and try to collect your personal information. One way to detect a phony Web site is to consider how you arrived there. Generally, you may have been directed by a link in a fake email requesting your account information. However, if you type, or cut and paste, the URL into a new Web browser window and it does not take you to a legitimate Web site, or you get an not-error message, it was probably just a cover for a fake Web site.

Nigerian 4-1-9 Scam

This scam is often referred to ironically as the 4-1-9 scam after section 4-1-9 of the Nigerian Penal Code, which relates to fraudulent schemes. The scam starts with bulk mailing/e-mailing of offers asking the recipients to enter into a business or to extend help in getting money transferred in return for huge commission.

The most common forms of these fraudulent business proposals are

• Offer of disbursement of money from wills
• Contract fraud (purchase of goods or services)
• Purchase of real estate
• Transfer of funds from over-invoiced contracts
• Sale of crude oil at below market prices

Other Indications

• There is always a sense of urgency
• There are many foreign-looking documents and sometimes, references of actual Nigerian government buildings are used
• Often, blank letterheads and account numbers are requested
• There is a variety or processing fees or bribes that must be paid, and the transaction is asked to be kept confidential

Remember

• Use caution while dealing with foreign buyers and sellers
• Beware if the buyer or seller asks you to send money quickly
• No legitimate company will offer to pay you by arranging to send you a cheque and asking you to wire some of the money back. If that's the pitch, it's a scam
• If it sounds too good to be true, it's a scam

Examples Of Scam E-mails

Contact Us

• If you receive an e-mail claiming to be from ICICI Bank regarding updating sensitive account information like PIN, password, account number, let us know by forwarding the e-mail to antiphishing@icicibank.com Never provide sensitive account like PIN, password, account information or personal information in response to an e-mail. If you have entered personal information, report it to us immediately.
• If you notice any spoofed (duplicate/unofficial) ICICI Bank website, let us know by writing at antiphishing@icicibank.com

Please call our 24-hour Customer Care