Email hoax targets Bank of England
The Bank of England’s name and e-mail address have been misused by suspected fraudsters who sent out more than 100,000 e-mails with a virus attached.
In light of the security risk, the Bank said the email, sent out on Monday night, should be immediately deleted. It contains the attachment, antikeylog2004.exe.
The email comes from the fake address, admin@bankofengland.co.uk.
The email asks recipients to download the file purporting to protect personal and account information.
The email reads: “The security of your personal and account information is extremely important to us. By practicing [sic] good security habits, you can help us ensure that your private information is protected. Please install our special software, that will remove all the keyloggers and backdoors from your computer. And will help us to prevent credit card fraud in future.”
A spokesperson for the Bank said 115,000 to 120,000 users had returned the email.
The Bank said it was unclear where the email had originated from.
Computer experts claim the hoax email deploys a tactic called “phishing”, which aims to collate customer bank details.
