NatWest Online Accounts Limited Access

Here's a new looking phishing email, targeted at an old favourite - the NatWest. As frequently happens, the email is a little confusing. I'm never sure whether this reflects the sender's grasp of English or is intentional, so that the recipient doesn't bother too much about what the email says and instead follows the phishing link to see what's going on.

This one first talks about regular screening, then suspicious ativity then finally limitations. But, there's loads of pointers to the unwary that it is phishing:

1 - 'Dear NatWest customer' - a bank should email you by name so you know the email is more likely to be for real

2 - it's sent to undisclosed-recipients - why hide the recipient's email address? Because the one email is going to thousands of addresses. If it were genuine, it would go to just the one.

3 - I'm certain the natwest would never send you to a link http://www.swsme.net/auth/login.aspx to sign on! It would always be to their own site, even if you were later redirected. You can see the URL by placing the mouse over the link, but not clicking. swsme.net does appear in a few results, with the comment from Google 'This site may harm your computer.'. So it's probably not a very good site to visit!

Here's the content.

Dear NatWest customer,

NatWest is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited. We would like to restore your access as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience.

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Why is my account access limited?

Your account access has been limited for the following reason(s):

Jun. 9, 2008: We have detected suspicious activity regarding the receipt or withdrawal of funds.

(Your case ID for this reason is NW-682-258-517.)

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How can I restore my account access?

Please Click Here to Log In to your account and complete the "Steps to Remove Limitations."

Once you complete all of the checklist items, your case will be reviewed by one of our Account Specialists. We will send you an email with the outcome of the review.

Copyright © National Westminster Bank plc, NatWest UK, 2008.