Beware phishing scam, TD Canada Trust warns customers

TD Canada Trust is warning consumers to beware of fraudulent e-mails after a mass e-mail claiming to represent the bank began circulating several days ago.

A representative with TD's EasyWeb Internet Banking service said the e-mail is not from the company and is a phishing scam, designed to extract personal and financial information from the user by claiming to represent a legitimate company.

The phishing e-mail asks customers to complete an EasyWeb form, saying the procedure is "obligatory," and includes a link to an address. According to a report on United Kingdom-based anti-phishing website MillerSmiles, the malicious website the e-mail sends users to looks nothing like the bank's website and asks users to confirm, update and verify their account data.

TD Canada Trust said the e-mail does not target customers of the bank specifically.

The bank is investigating and "working with the authorities to shut it down," spokesperson Christa Poole said Tuesday.

"No bank would ever request personal information via e-mail,"Poole told CBC News.

The good news, she said, is that recent publicity around phishing means fewer people are falling for such scams.

The bank has issued a notice on their site warning of e-mail fraud. Itsays customers should not click on links in e-mails and should be wary of e-mails that offer money, threaten legal action or warn of security risks.