Westpac warns customers about email scam

3.45pm

Westpac Bank is warning its internet banking customers about an email scam which tries to get them to reveal their login details and passwords.

Westpac spokesman Paul Gregory told NZPA the bank had received hundreds of calls this morning from customers who had received emails claiming to be from the bank. The emails had also been sent to people who do not have Westpac accounts.

The email claims the bank is verifying the customer's email address and asks them to click on a link which takes them to a phony Westpac site. At the site, which Mr Gregory said was a "reasonable facsimile" of the real Westpac site, customers are asked to enter their login name and password.

Mr Gregory said the bank was not aware of anybody who had actually entered their information at the fake website.

"If anyone does, we've put a message up on our website... saying that it's a scam and giving them a number to call if they've any inquiries or more importantly to report the emails they've got so we know how wide it's spread.

"If anyone has actually stuck their details in they can ring us up and we can arrange for them to change their password immediately."

Mr Gregory said Westpac would never ask customers for this information under any circumstances and the real Westpac site is secure.

He confirmed the police's computer crimes unit is looking into the scam which is common overseas but has not been seen in New Zealand before.

The police have instructed bank customers who receive the emails, which are believed to have originated from outside New Zealand, to delete them and never to give out their passwords to anyone.

- NZPA