security
Background
ING provides the following general information to answer any
concerns that you may have around the security of the internet,
including online transactions. More specific information should be
available from your bank, broker or ING representative.
ING makes
every effort to provide optimal security of your data and of all
transactions; for us protecting our clients is just good business.
However hard we work there are risks online, and you can take some
action to protect yourself. Here we provide some information to help
you.
Latest key security issues
From time to time we will provide information on security related news items that we feel you should be aware of. These security updates will be presented on this page.
Bank Guarantee Fraud
Bank guarantee fraud involves bogus investment schemes that promise
you quick riches if you invest in a fund that buys bank guarantees
issued by prime banks such as ING.
The fraudsters will invite
you to invest and will tell you that the bank guarantees will be bought
at a discount and sold shortly afterwards at a huge profit. They will
try to make the schemes appear legal and legitimate by showing you
complex, sophisticated documents that appear to be official. They may
tell you, falsely, that your investments will be secured by letters of
credit, bank guarantees or other guaranteed certificates backed by the
world’s major banks. They will claim that you will make high profits if
you invest large sums in their schemes. As soon, however, as you part
with your money, it will disappear – along with the investment company.
Do not respond to these emails. They are part of a fraud and you will not receive any of the promised money.
Fake job postings
A known recruiting scam, claiming to represent companies, invites
people to apply for a “job” that turns out to actually be a form of
money laundering. These types of employment offers are in no way
associated with ING Group.
As criminals become more
sophisticated, these e-mails may include your name and other personal
information, making it more difficult to detect them as fraudulent.
If
you receive any e-mails please don’t respond to them. If you have
already responded, consider reporting the incident to the police.
Phishing
A phishing attack is an online fraud technique which involves
sending official-looking email messages with return addresses, links and
branding that all appear to come from legitimate banks, retailers,
credit card companies, etc. Such emails typically contain a hyperlink to
a spoof website and mislead account holders to enter customer names and
security details on the pretence that security details must be updated
or changed. Once you give them your information it can be used on
legitimate sites to take your money.
It is important that you are suspicious of emails asking for your information; see more on ING’s standard email practices below.
Imitation of ING websites and Apps
ING monitors the internet to find imitation websites and apps,
which are often the first step made by phishers. We then work with the
appropriate international authority to get the websites closed down and
Apps taken out of the App stores as quickly as possible – sometimes on
the same day we find the website or App.
To report phishing attacks please send us an email.
Advanced Fee Fraud
You may already have heard of ‘advanced fee fraud’, where emails
offering large sums of money are sent to thousands of email addresses,
but a modest ‘fee’ was required in order to cover legal fees, open an
account or pay customs charges. Sometimes the money offered is as a
result of a lottery for which you have never bought a ticket. Sometimes
the money is held in an account overseas but the account owner cannot
access it, they promise a percentage of the money in return for your
help. In both cases various fees have to be paid.
Do not respond to these emails. They are part of a fraud and you will not receive any of the promised money.
We
place this warning here because we are aware that the criminals
carrying out these frauds do on occasion use the name of ING or an ING
subsidiary as part of this scam.