E-mail fraud, or “phishing,” is an Internet scam in the form of an e-mail.
The e-mails link to sites that look like well-known legitimate businesses and ask you to provide or confirm personal, financial, or password information.

E-mail Fraud Topics

• How to Report Fraudulent E-mails
• How to Spot Suspicious E-mails

How to Report Fraudulent E-mails
If you believe you have received a fraudulent e-mail, please forward the entire
e-mail with the original subject line to abuse@capitalone.com.

If you have provided personal information or clicked on the links in a fraudulent
e-mail, follow these additional steps:

1. Call us immediately to report that account information may have been compromised.
2. Log in to Capital One Online Banking and change your password and security questions.
3. Check your accounts for suspicious activity.
4. Update and run your antivirus software on your computer.

How to spot a phishing e-mail

There are many telltale signs of a fraudulent e-mail.

1. Sender's e-mail address. To give you a false sense of security, the “From” line may include an official-looking e-mail address that may actually be copied from a genuine one. E-mail addresses can easily be spoofed, so just because it looks like it’s from someone you trust, you can’t always be sure.
2. Attachments. Similar to fake links, attachments can be used in fraudulent e-mails. Never click on or open an attachment. It could cause you to download spyware or a virus. Capital One will never e-mail you an attachment or a software update to install on your computer. In general, never open unexpected attachments from anyone.
3. Generic greeting. A typical fraudulent e-mail will have a generic greeting, such as “Dear Account Holder.”
4. False sense of urgency. Most fraudulent e-mails threaten to close your account or assess some penalty if you don’t respond right away. An e-mail that urgently requests you to supply sensitive personal information is typically fraudulent.
5. Typos and grammatical mistakes. Such mistakes are a dead giveaway in fake e-mails.
6. Fake links. Many fraudulent e-mails have a link that looks valid, but sends you to a fake site that may or may not have an URL different from the link. Always check where a link is going before you click. Move your mouse over the URL in the e-mail and look at the URL in the browser. As always, if it looks suspicious, don't click it. Open a new browser window, and type http://www.capitalone.com.

If you get an e-mail that claims to be from us but you aren’t sure, or you think it’s suspicious, don’t click any of the links. Just send it to us at abuse@capitalone.com then delete it.