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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Fake First Hawaiian Bank site disabled after phishing alert

Advertiser Staff

A fake First Hawaiian Bank Web site was taken down yesterday morning after the bank's security personnel was alerted about a "phishing" e-mail that was targeting First Hawaiian customers.

The e-mail circulated yesterday morning is purported to be from the bank and asks people to click on a link as part of security maintenance measures being taken by First Hawaiian. So-called phishing e-mails typically attempt to direct people to sites where they are asked for sensitive financial account information, allowing Web thieves to harvest the information and use it for their gain.

The fake e-mail begins, "Dear First Hawaiian Bank Valued Member" and notes the bank has randomly selected the person to take part in security measures that require them to go through a series of identity verification pages.

"If we do not receive the appropriate account verification within 24 hours, then we will assume this account is fraudulent and will be suspended," the e-mail continues.

First Hawaiian said its security team had been able to disable the fraudulent site.

"The bank does not ask people to provide account information by e-mail," said spokeswoman Susan Kam.

Yet another phishing e-mail circulating yesterday tries to trick members of the Kauai Community Federal Credit Union. The Lihu'e-based credit union has been the subject of several phishing e-mail attacks during the past week. The current bogus e-mail says the member's account has been temporarily suspended and that they need to click on a link to update their account.

Local financial institutions say they never send e-mails to customers asking for account information and to call their offices if they have questions about an e-mail.