Windhoek — Bank Windhoek has issued another warning on the latest phishing scam that has surfaced where fraudsters contact clients via an e-mail with the subject line "New upgrade alert" and ask them to upgrade their security and private details in order to avoid becoming victims to fraudsters.

"Due to our new innovative technology in the new year 2013, we have made firewall security, to give standard online banking service to our customers. With the lastest (sic) security and privacy to safeguard you from the lastest (sic) account threat, as a result of this you may experience service problems, if you do not upgrade," reads one of the fraudulent e-mails in circulation.

The bank says the fraudulent e-mails making the rounds are heavily laden with grammatical and spelling errors. Commercial banks have time and again reiterated that they will never communicate with their clients via e-mail, nor will they request clients to submit confidential information to the banks via e-mail or SMS.

Clients are requested to delete such e-mails, even if they appear to be authentic. Phishing is the process by which someone obtains your private information through devious means in order to fraudulently assume your identity and ultimately to gain control over your bank account.

Phishing is therefore a form of identity theft that depends entirely on the victim's cooperation. Bank Windhoek has also warned clients that it cannot accept responsibility for financial losses due to clients providing information to persons pretending to work for the bank or fraudulent e-mails.