Abu Dhabi, Aug. 13, 2004 (WAM) -- Despite precautions, includingblocking of sites by banks, customers continue to be targeted by criminal hackers through fake websites, +Gulf News+ reported today.

Although no customers in the UAE have been defrauded, Citibank and Barclays warn customers to ignore such 'phising' (fraudulent)e-mails and inform the bank immediately.

Some customers of these two banks said they almost believed the e-mails to be genuine but escaped the trap narrowly.

"It looked so genuine but fortunately I exercised caution and then immediately phoned Citibank," said 64-year old Jeoffrey Wright, an Abu Dhabi resident, about a website that called itself 'Citi'.

"I think the general public should be warned about this to protect them," he added.

Another Dubai-based resident said that after hearing about the phising e-mails, he stopped visiting the bank website and complained to the bank. "Internet banking seems unsafe with such happenings," he added.

Dubai-based Mike Shepley said that as an account holder of Barclays Bank, he almost logged on to the fake website which looks exactly like Barclays except for one letter that has been interchanged ('Barcalys').

"People should be alerted about this scam which is an obvious attempt to gain bank account details from unsuspecting recipients," he said, and asked: "Why isn't Emirates Internet not blocking such sites?" Shepley has written to Emirates Internet but has had no response. "I have written to Barclays and they are aware of thewebsite."Meanwhile, Citibank reiterated that it is cooperating with the publicauthorities and is doing its best to alert customers about such scams.

"Although one site was blocked, another one came up. This 'phising' onthe Net is a big industry where criminals employ new tactics to defraudpeople," a Citibank spokesman told Gulf News.

"Customers should not worry about whether the sites are blocked or notbut simply ignore them, exercise caution. The rule of thumb is that anyrequest by email which is of sensitive nature is not legitimate," he said.

"Customers should never click on such sites." Barclays has also put out a security notice warning that Internet communications are not secure unless the data being sent is encrypted.

While the bank states it cannot accept any responsibility for unauthorisedaccess by a third party and corruption of data being sent by individualsto offices of Barclays Bank, it is the bank's policy that if any of itsclients are victims of unauthorised access to their accounts (providedthey didn't breach security procedures), it will cover any resulting financialloss suffered by the client.