Capital One customers who have received email messages claiming that your accounts have been locked or suspended are asked not to follow the instructions in them. This is because the email messages are phishing scams that are being sent by cybercriminals to trick you into clicking on the link within them, which goes to a phishing website that will steal your online banking accounts’ usernames and passwords. The phishing website was created to look exactly like the legitimate Capital One’s website, to trick Capital One customers into believing that they are signing into their accounts on the legitimate Capital One’s website.
Sample of the "Capital One Your Account Access is Locked" Phishing Email Scam
From: Capital One <capitalone@notification.capitalone.com>
Date: 11/1/17 7:37 AM (GMT-07:00)
Subject: Your account access is locked
There was a security concern.
Visit Capital One
Unlock your account access.
Looks like you’re having trouble signing in. For your security, we locked your account access as of November 1, 2017 at 9:37 AM ET.
If you did not try to access your account, or if you need assistance unlocking your account, please visit our Information Protection Center.
Thanks for choosing Capital One®."!
Capital One’s customers who attempt to sign into the fake and phishing website, will unknowingly send their banking online account credentials to the cybercriminals who have created the fake website. Once the cybercriminals have gotten their potential victims’ Capital One account usernames and passwords (credentials), they will gain access to their accounts, steal their money and use their accounts fraudulently, which will be traced back their victims who may get arrested for something they know nothing about. Therefore, Capital One’s customers who have been or think they have been tricked by the phishing email message above, or others similar to it, should contact Capital One immediately for help.
Capital One customers are advised not to click on a link to sign into their accounts in email messages, even if the email messages that contain the link appear legitimate. They should instead, go directly to www.capitalone.com and sign-in from there. This will prevent them from clicking on links in fake email messages that go to a phishing website that steals personal information, financial information, or account credentials. Once they are signed into their accounts, they will be notified of changes, updates or important things they need to do.