They may look innocent - or official - enough, but some emails, text messages and requests for information can come from some decidedly unscrupulous parties. It's always worth being on your guard - and if you're suspicious, alerting the proper authorities.
Phishing is an attempt by fraudsters to 'fish' for personal information such as the security credentials you use for banking. Someone can send you an email which appears to come from your bank or an organisation you have registered with, such as PayPal. The email asks you to click on a link and/or to confirm your username or password - and in this way they obtain your details.
Not from us. Lists of live email addresses are bought or swapped between unscrupulous parties.
They don't, but if they send enough emails they're bound to reach some customers.
If we contact you by email, we will never ask you to enter or confirm your security details. We will only send you emails from the following email addresses: 24hours@firstdirect.com, 24hours@mail.firstdirect.com, littleblackbook@mail.firstdirect.com and newsletter@mail.firstdirect.com. Additionally we always include the last 3 digits of your postcode at the bottom of all first direct emails so you can confirm that it's valid.
If you've received an email that doesn't include this information, it is not from first direct. Please send the email to phishing@hsbc.com. This will allow us to investigate and help prevent further instances of phishing.
Call us anytime on 08 456 100 100, so that we can investigate and change your security details.
first direct is a division of HSBC Bank plc. © HSBC Bank plc 2008. All Rights Reserved. Member HSBC 
Group.
Because we want to make sure we're doing a good job, we may monitor or record our calls. We hope you don't mind.
