Is this Phishing?

[jcarter]

I got this message twice, and its dead wrong, as we got our refund long long ago direct deposited into our local bank. The phone number works, seemingly it is the bank, but I never got a live person, so hung up after the menu went thru a few times.
The links seem OK, nothing from .ru or foreign places,,,,,,,,So I wonder what this is all about,,,,,,
Jane

"Thank you for selecting Santa Barbara Bank & Trust to process your income tax refund. SBB&T has not received your IRS refund.

The expected ACH funding date of your refund was 04/24/2009. Since more than one week has passed since your expected funding date, the IRS has delayed the processing of your tax return. You can check on the status of your refund by calling the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.

If SBB&T receives your refund after the expected ACH funding date, SBB&T will process your refund according to your original instructions.

For more information concerning your refund, please log on to our Internet site at (url removed - Highmac)

You have been assigned the following Client Identification to protect your privacy:
(I took this # out)
Please use this ID on all email with our customer service department.

For inquiries, please reply to (url removed - Highmac) .

To contact us, please call (800) 717-****.

Santa Barbara Bank & Trust"

[Highmac]

Jane - if the message started 'dear customer' or 'dear valued client' it's spam, without any doubt. Banks will always address you by name and there almost certainly will NOT be any sort of link, especially one starting https. Whatever the message says it is NOT secure and does not go the bank - it goes to the spammers. The phone numbers may be genuine, but the spammers are counting on people using their links rather than calling.

I  get similar messages all the time, mostly from banks I've never dealt with. The spammers send out so many of them that  eventually they'll send you spam using the name of your bank. Never use phone numbers from an email. Get the number from your bank's documentation or from their website - again, don't use a link in the message; type the bank's url in your browser or, if you have one from previous contacts, a bookmark.

Stay safe!

[jcarter]

Thank you!
I will get the real phone number from the bank and ask them if they want this sent to them, so that it can be traced, or whatever they do with stuff like this,
Jane

[krissel]

While this is a year old, it may shed some light on why you may have received that email. Someone may be using this info to try to scam people (or the bank itself is clueless).

http://turbotax.intuit.com/support/kb/tax-...-tips/6255.html

[jcarter]

Solved!
This actually wasnt phishing after all, it was info for another person whom I had done his taxes.  But they didnt have the ID number, and when I emailed them, they couldnt find the account.  So I waited for a week or so, then phoned them again, and got the correct ID and thus found that everything was OK after all.
Whew, I never know why they didnt have the correct #, but anyway, its OK.  And the refund is happily where it was supposed to go now.
Jane