Your Better Business Bureau received an email which carried the subject line:  "[bank name] customer alert".  Naturally, because we happen to bank at the named bank, we thought it was from them.  Upon further examination, we discovered that it was a scam email designed to make us think it was "really" from our bank.

The email message looked very similar to the sign-in page of the bank's website and asked us to enter our username and password!  One little box on the email told us that we needed to check our secured inbox for more information. 

We immediately remembered to follow what we have been "preaching" and checked with the bank.  They confirmed that this is a fraudulent email and confirmed what we already knew - they NEVER send emails requesting banking information from its customers.

This incident gives us a good reason to remind you to:

1)  NEVER send personal, identifying information via email;
2)  DELETE any email from which the sender is unknown;
3)  GUARD your email inbox with spam protection software;
4)  PROTECT your computer from pop-up advertising; and
5)  CHECK your internet options to further safeguard your computer.