What is Phishing?  

"Phishing" is a method of identity theft used by criminals to obtain personal/financial information from unsuspecting people by impersonating bank officials or customer service agents. This information is then used to fraudulently access the accounts and siphon off funds.

HNB Virtual Branch: Warning about fraudulent e-mails and phone calls:

Please be wary of bogus emails that claim to be sent from an "Information Verification Service" of HNB or any other service provider, requesting you to update your particulars or validate your personal information. On some occasions, the fraudster may try to obtain your credit card information as well. This is known as "Phishing" for information.

Please do not, under any circumstances, enter your personal details into this or any other emails.

 
 
Account Takeover:  

Please also refrain from giving your credit card details to "Customer Service Agents" who call you up requesting to verify your personal information. They will usually ask for your card number, Expiry Date, CVV (the three digit code printed on the signature panel after the card number), and your PIN (Personal Identification Number). This information would enable them to perform fraudulent transactions over the Internet. Never give your PIN number to anyone.

However, if you do call our Authorization Centre for information the Call Centre Agents will verify your static data prior to giving you account information, but they will never ask for your PIN.