According to this “Security Alert” email that purports to be from the Bank of America, your account has been limited in order to protect it.
The email claims that you must click a link to activate the account and remove the limitation.
However, the email is not from the Bank of America and your account has not been limited as claimed.
Instead, the email is a phishing scam designed to steal your personal and financial information.
If you click the link in the scam email, you will be taken to a fraudulent website that has been build to emulate the genuine Bank of America website. Once on the bogus site, you will be asked to sign in with your Online ID and Passcode.
Next, you will be instructed to fill in an account update form that asks for your credit card numbers, your name and address, and other identifying information.
Finally, you will see a message claiming that you have successfully activated your account and lifted the limitation.
But, now the criminals running the scam can collect the login details that you provided and hijack your Bank of America account. They can also commit fraudulent transactions using your credit card. And, if they have managed to collect enough of your personal details, they may attempt to steal your identity as well.
Scams like this are very common. The Bank of America website includes information about identifying and reporting suspicious emails.
An example of the scam email:
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
