The recent emergence in Mexico of phishing, which Google defines as “the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information,
such as passwords and credit card numbers,” has caused the country’s National Commission for the Protection and Defense of Users of Financial Services (CONDUSEF) to issue a warning to card holders and bank customers, particularly those who bank with BBVA Bancomer, to be on their guard against people requesting personal and/or sensitive financial information online or over the phone.
The most common phishing method is to notify the mark that his credit card has had unknown charges recently applied to it, after which the phisher requests the person’s email, credit card number and password in order for the charges to be deleted from the user’s account.
CONDUSEF prescribes three precautions to avoid being taken for a sucker:
1) Do not respond to emails from unknown senders.
2) Do not enter banking passwords on websites reached by clicking on a link or text messages.
3) Never provide sensitive financial information, as actual Visa or MasterCard operatives don’t generally solicit said data from clients, nor do they verify accounts through text messages or instant messaging.