Bank of Valletta has said that, over the past week, some of its customers may have received an email advising them to update their personal information on line. The email said that if they did not update such information, their account would be suspended.

Although such emails may look authentic, Bank of Valletta is reminding its customers that they are to ignore all email notices purported to have been sent by the bank requesting personal bank-related information such as the PIN of Cashlink, BOV Visa or Mastercard credit cards, credit card and account numbers, internet banking user ID or passwords generated by the BOV Securekey.

The bank reiterated that it does not request such information from customers by email, telephone or any other means of communication.

BOV said that it has robust security systems in place and, through the BOV Securekey, provides customers with a secure two-factor authentication mechanism when using its 24x7 services, including internet banking. This, however, does not mean that customers can be complacent about such threats and it is essential that information security best practices are adhered to at all times.

For a more detailed list of best practices, the bank recommends that customers read the Information Security Best Practices – BOV 24x7 Services that was provided along with the Terms & Conditions and which can be accessed at http://www.bov.com/ page.asp?p=10773&l=1.

For more information and queries, customers can contact the BOV Customer Service Centre on telephone 2131-2020.