Police warn about sophisticated 'phishing' emails

Sophisticated emails soliciting banking information are turning up in inboxes and police are once again warning people not to fall for the scam.

Calgary Const. Dana Grosky of the police crime prevention team says these kinds of fake emails have become quite sophisticated and look like the real thing.

"A bank would never ask or solicit information over the internet and if you get anything like that you should contact the bank by phone, or go in in person and talk to them."

The technique is called phishing, described by one bank on its website as "a common online scam designed to trick you into disclosing your personal or financial information for the purpose of financial fraud or identity theft."

Calgarian Chantal Perron said she knows better than to respond to these types of emails. But recently she got one in her inbox that looked legitimate, was supposedly from her bank, and stated if she didn't respond quickly her account would be frozen.

"I clearly came to my computer a little too quickly and was not quite awake," she said. "I put in my debit card number and I put in about half of my credit card number before I woke up… and realized this wasn't right, I shouldn't be putting this information out."

Perron called the bank and her credit card company right away. She will also get her computer checked out.

"When I say I'm embarrassed, they say it happens regularly. That's why they do it and they've all been really, really helpful and I think I've caught everything before anything bad is going to happen."