Possible e-mail scam.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have just received an E-mail purporting to be from Barclays Bank asking me to verify some of my account details.

It looked very authentic correct letter heads etc all apart from one thing I have never had any sort of account with Barclays. E-mail deleted without opening.

Be aware my friends.

[veggiechicken]

I get them all the time Potty - banks, BT, ebay, paypal. Its "phishing" for your account details.
They go straight in the trash can.

[cariann88]

I get them all the time too. Even ones that I am not even banking with. They go straight into my junk box.

[Kirk]

Also get a steady stream of them, as my email is a .com I get one for US based "companies". My Wells Fargo account is out of date, my ebay/paypal one is commonly in problems, couple of time it is my Bank of America account, couple from the US IRS. Have no accounts with any and even when one appears from my actual bank they are so boring they also get trashed without opening also. Why show favouritism?

I recall it was asked once why as they are "obvious" to any hlaf aware person, the reply was that they do not want to waste time with anyone half aware, it is the gullible ones they want to catch.

[Kirk]

Had to add to this - possibly the best one yet.
This one says it is from the FBI.
Counter-terrorism Divison and Cyber Crime Divison.
J. Edgar. Hoover Building, Washington DC.

Well the first "t" in terrorism should be capitalised and as Edgar is not abbreviated it should not have a full stop after it.

Well if the FBI cannot spell their own address it is getting poor.
Consigned to total deletion.

[Bigmallly]

I use a rule of thumb that spam mail does not address you by your name........usually a good sign to throw it in the bin or trash to our USA members........."Dear Customer" means nowt to me.

[Thelma Sanders]

I never use access links from emails.

If it is something I might need to do, then I go direct to the main website - much more secure.

[Martin H]

I use a rule of thumb that spam mail does not address you by your name

I do this too. My email address isn't in the format firstname.lastname@abc.com so it's impossible for the spammers to guess. I do get some very strange salutations when they try, though!

If you're unfortunate enough to have one of those "standard" email addresses, the spam can be harder to spot.

[Kirk]

I have no idea if the emails have links in them.
I have no problem in deleting an email completely unread or unopened.
With the 1 in 5 or 6 chance that they have my bank in the subject I find the spam filter good enough and if in spam it dies, I do not check by opening it.

But one claiming to be from the FBI is one of the more unusual ones I have had.