The email the below, which claim the recipients' Metro Bank has been blocked is a phishing scam. The fake and phishing email message is being sent by cybercriminals. The link in it goes to a phishing website that looks Metro Bank Bank’s website where visitors will be asked to sign-in with their account credentials. But, once the visitors attempt to sign-in their account credentials on the fake or phishing website, their credentials will be sent to the cybercriminals behind the scam, who will use it to gain access to their accounts. Once the cybercriminals have access to the accounts they will steal the owners' money and use their accounts fraudulently.
A Sample of the "Metro Bank Account Blocked" Phishing Scam
From: Metro Bank Online [mailto:online@bt.com]
Sent: 10 January 2018 17:08
To: Recipients
Subject: Alert message from Metro Bank - MB:00037550000012
Please Note: We temporarily blocked your accounts due to irregular activities we would like to further verify.
Undefined transactions are included in the attached estatement for your view.
Metro Bank PLC is registered in England and Wales, company number 6419578. Registered office: Metro Bank PLC, One Southampton Row, London, WC1B 5HA, United Kingdom. 'Metrobank' is the registered trade mark of Metro Bank PLC.
It is important for internet users to remember that they should never click on a link to sign into their online accounts, especially links in email messages. The safest way to sign into their online accounts is to go directly to their online account providers’ websites, by typing the addresses of the websites in their web browsers or using a popular search engine to find the websites.
For example:
Metro Bank’ customers should go directly to https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/ to sign into their accounts or use Metro Bank's mobile app. Once they have signed in, if there is something wrong with their accounts will be notified.
Recipients of the phishing Metro Bank email who have clicked on the link and have attempted to sign into the phishing website with their account’ credentials should immediately change their passwords and contact Metro Bank Bank for help.