Security tip: Holiday fraud watch

Last updated: 25 November 2019

During the upcoming holiday period, fraudulent activity across electronic bank delivery channels, such as HSBCnet, may increase as online criminals attempt to exploit extended holiday periods within corporations and their banks.

At this time, please be extra vigilant in your online activity to make sure that you remain protected. If you experience any of the following events, a fraudulent attack may be underway:

When logging on to HSBCnet, you are presented with a message saying that HSBCnet is unavailable AFTER you have entered your username and security credentials. Alternately, the error message might give a set time that HSBCnet will return e.g. 15 minutes.
You are presented with a security check/verification screen that requires you to wait.
You are prompted repeatedly to re-enter your username, password or security code.
You see any screens that you think are unusual or are missing information.

If you experience any of these events, please contact your local HSBCnet support team immediately via the Customer Support link in the HSBCnet log on box.

Important reminder:

HSBC will never request information that could be used to make a payment (such as token details other than the serial number on the back, account numbers, passwords, etc). Also, under no circumstances will HSBC ever ask you to ask you to divulge any of your security details over the phone, by text message or via email.

In addition, please be wary of any requests from your beneficiaries (via email, phone or otherwise) to change their banking details. The request may be an attempt to divert payment funds to a fraudulent account. For more information on this type of fraud, please review the information available here.

For further information on how to protect yourself from fraudulent attacks, please select the Security Alerts and Tips link in the HSBCnet log on box.