Like the phishing emails sent out, purporting to come from Barclays, Citibank, Natwest and other bank's customer service operations, the messages seek to persuade customers of the bank to sign on to a bogus website with their e-banking details.
Westpac says that it first noticed the phishing emails late on Tuesday, and had managed to get the bogus site shut down by 2pm on Wednesday.
The phishing email originators responded to the site shutdown by modifying their messages, asking that customers reply directly to the email with their bank login details.
Westpac responded with a request that customers should never reveal their banking details via email, or release the information to bank staff, who, it added, would never request such information.
Web... www.westpac.com.au