Halifax: Britons targeted by dangerous text scam – key warning signs

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Halifax helps many customers each day with their banking needs, whether this involves transferring money, setting up new payments, or simply putting their money away to let it grow. But unfortunately, it appears fraudsters have capitalised on the good name and reputation of the bank to victimise Britons. Sadly, a number of people have reported receiving a scam text which claims to be from the bank. 

The correspondence has come in a number of messages, telling Britons they will need to take certain actions with their account.

One such message read: “HALIFAX: A payment was attempted from a new device. Please visit halifaxfraudpreventionteam.com/login.

Another stated: “HALIFAX: A new device has successfully paired onto your account. If this was NOT you then please visit https://halt.add-newpayee.com.”

A third message stated: “HALIFAX: You have successfully scheduled a payment of £54.99 to payee MR ADAMS. If this was NOT you then please visit https://instructpayee.com/halifax.”

And a fourth told Britons they had set up a new recipient for payment and needed to change their details to protect themselves if this was not the case.

All such correspondence has been confirmed by the bank as a scam, but such messages still remain dangerous for unsuspecting victims.

Clicking on such links could prompt Britons to enter personal or sensitive information relating to their bank, which could be used by fraudsters to wipe their account.

Furthermore, such links often include malware which can download viruses onto a person’s device and cause additional chaos.

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However, the messages are particularly worrying for another reason as well. 

This is because they are coming in batches in a variety of forms, and from different numbers.

This could make it potentially difficult for Britons to target what is real and what is fake.

However, Halifax have offered guidance in helping their customers to spot correspondence which is not official. 

Firstly, messages which urge Britons to ‘act now’, potentially including warning messages, or threats of problems with an account should be considered as fake.

A text from Halifax will always include part of a person’s name, account number or postcode. 

Finally, Britons should always check for spelling, grammar and syntax errors within messages they receive, as this is likely to be a sure-fire sign of a scam. 

The bank has urged Britons to report receiving scam texts as soon as possible, and not to click any links in suspicious messages.

Scam messages should be sent on to the bank, and the number 7726 can be used to report the scam text for free to a network provider.

Halifax responded to customer concerns, stating the security at the bank has been made aware of the new scam and will take appropriate action.

If a person has received a scam text, they should always delete the message and block the sender. 

Express.co.uk has reached out to Halifax for comment on the matter. 

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