Spot the Fake: A Guide to Protecting Your Account from Website Cloning

In today's digital world, cybercriminals are constantly developing new ways to trick you into revealing sensitive information. One increasingly common tactic is "website cloning," a sophisticated phishing scam designed to steal login details for accounts like your Monese. This guide will explain what website cloning is, how to identify a fake site, and what you can do to protect your account.

What is Website Cloning?

Website cloning is a malicious technique where scammers create a pixel-perfect replica of a legitimate website. Their goal is to trick you into thinking you're on the real site so you'll enter your username, password, and other private information.

Criminals achieve this in two ways:

1. Deceptive Web Address (URL): The cloned site's address will look almost identical to the real one. Scammers might swap similar-looking letters (like 'e' for 'o'), add extra characters, or use a slightly different spelling. For example, they might create menese.com to imitate the official monese.com.
2. Identical Design: The fake website will use the same logos, colours, fonts, and images as the genuine site, making it incredibly difficult to spot the difference at a glance.

Once they have your details, criminals can gain unauthorized access to your Monese account and your money.

3 Essential Tips to Spot a Cloned Website

You are the first and best line of defence against these scams. Before you ever enter login information, take a moment to check for these red flags.

1. Scrutinize the Web Address (URL) —This is the most reliable way to identify a fake site. Pay close attention to the address in your browser's navigation bar. Look for subtle mistakes designed to fool you:

• Misspellings: Is "Monese" spelled correctly?
• Character Swaps: Has an "o" been replaced with an "a", or an "o" with a zero?
• Unusual Additions: Are there extra words or characters in the address?

Best Practice: Instead of clicking a link from an email or message, always type the official address manually into your browser: https://monese.com.

2. Be Wary of Paid Search Engine Ads — When you search for a company on Google or Bing, the first few results are often paid advertisements, marked with an "Ad" or "Sponsored" label. Scammers can pay to place their fake websites in these top spots, hoping you'll click them without thinking.

Always scroll past the ads and click on the first organic (non-paid) search result for the official site.

3. Check the Homepage for ErrorsWhile cloned sites look convincing, they are often built in a hurry. Take a moment to read the text on the homepage. Look for:

• Grammar and spelling mistakes.
• Awkward or unprofessional phrasing.
• Broken links or buttons that don't work.

Legitimate companies invest heavily in creating a professional, error-free website. A sloppy site is a major red flag.

How to Secure Your Account

Use the Official Monese App
‍The safest way to access and manage your account is through the official Monese mobile app. Download it directly from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to ensure you have a secure connection.
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What to Do If You Suspect Your Account is Compromised

‍If you think you may have accidentally entered your details on a cloned website, act immediately.

1. Change Your Password: Log in to your account using the official Monese app and change your password immediately.
2. Contact Us: If you are locked out of your account or need assistance, contact our support team right away to report the issue so we can help you secure it.

Important Reminder: Monese will never ask you for your full password or security pass code over the phone or by email.

By staying vigilant and adopting these simple precautions, you can significantly reduce your risk of falling victim to website cloning. Always take a moment to verify before you act.

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Some of our plans are getting a tune up - here’s all you need to know

If your plan is impacted by this change, you can find more information below. For a full rundown of our terms, please click here.

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At Monese, we are committed to delivering the best possible banking alternative, so that anyone across the UK and Europe can better manage their money, digitally. 

So, we’re making improvements to our plans to better tailor them to our customers' everyday needs. These changes will include updates to transfer limits, adjustments to fees, and tweaks to our free plan. 

As a part of this, we are enhancing our Classic plan to include our new Cashback offering. We are also introducing a new plan called Everyday, designed for those on our free plan who are looking to start using their Monese card more often. All our plans have a bunch of great ways to spend, send, and save your money - with options tailored for every need.

With these updates, we are confident that everyone will be able to find a plan that is right for them, and help them build a brighter financial future.

Read more below for some of our most commonly asked questions, and a full schedule of changes at the bottom.

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What are the main changes?

Monese plans now have four tiers: Pay As You Go, Everyday, Cashback, and Premium, so that you can find the right plan for your needs. 

For our current Simple users, the main update is just a simple name change, and slight updates to domestic transfer fees. We’re also making virtual cards free on all plans so that you can connect your account to your Apple or Google Wallet. 

For Classic users, you will start to see us refer to your plan as Cashback. We also have an exciting new way to help you save. You can read more below on changes to your particular plan.

We are also introducing a new tier, Everyday, designed for those using their Monese card regularly, rather than occasionally.

This means that there are more options for more people using Monese around the world.

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Why are we making these changes?
We’re all about making sure we deliver the best tools for you to manage your money, and based on how people are using Monese currently, we noticed that we needed to create some new options for our customers. 

It’s especially important that we provide an Everyday plan for customers who feel that £7.95 per month is a bit of a stretch, but want to start using Monese more regularly. 

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What is a Pay As You Go plan?

Pay As You Go does what it says on the tin. Previously known as the Simple plan, our Pay As You Go plan allows you to access Monese without a monthly fee. This allows customers starting out on Monese to get familiar with the app, and only pay for what they use. This plan is perfect for someone using their Monese card sporadically, or looking to explore their options in the app.

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What is included in the Everyday plan?

Our new Everyday plan has everything you need to get you started on your journey to a brighter financial future with Monese. This plan is designed to be a low cost, low commitment option for those looking to save on transfer limits, deposit fees and virtual cards - perfect for those always on the go. Everyday will also include Partner Cashback.

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What is the Cashback plan and why has my Classic plan changed?

For our Classic users, there won’t be a huge amount of change, aside from the inclusion of Cashback, a new way to earn as you spend every month, among other changes to:

• FX and international transfer fees
• Free transfer out limits
• Cash top up limits

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You can read more in our schedule of changes below.

Plus, with Enhanced Cashback, you can earn up to £2.50 per month on your everyday spend. This is on top of being able to access our regular partner Cashback.

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Will my Premium plan be changing?

For our current Premium plan users, nothing is changing. This is still the best plan for those using Monese as their primary account.

See below for the full details of what is changing in every plan

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Pay As You Go (previously Simple)

Monthly domestic transfers out (limit): Previously £1 per transfer, Now £1.29 per transfer

Debit Card Top Up Fee (%): Previously 1%, Now 2%

Card spend Abroad FX (%): Previously 2%, Now 3%

Virtual card order fee: Previously £0.30, Now Free

Physical card order fee: £4.95, now free with your first £100 deposit

No other changes

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Cashback (previously Classic)

Free monthly domestic transfers out (limit): Previously 100, Now 10, £1 after

Debit card top up fee (%): Previously free, now 1%

Cash top up fee (%): Previously £400 free, now £100 free, 3% after

ATM out fee (%): Previously £500 free, now £300 free, 2% after

No other changes

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Premium

No changes for existing customers

First physical card order fee: previously free, now £4.95

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Cyber Monday has arrived! And it is, as ever, a veritable behemoth of a worldwide sales event, bristling with bargains and a dizzying array of offers, all at low, low prices. It’s all too easy however to get a little disorientated by the mass-induced shopping frenzy, and perhaps a little careless in our singular pursuit of that must-have item we've seen online. This means we can often overlook, or ignore, the warning signs that what we're buying, and where we’re buying from, might not be all it seems.

With this in mind, we thought it would be helpful to list a few tips and tricks – as provided by our Fraud Team – that should help keep you stay safe during the Cyber Monday excess, and help keep your money protected from any dodgy deals. One smart way to stay protected while shopping online is to keep your device optimized and free from security vulnerabilities. Using a tool like CleanMyMac can help by removing junk files, clearing malicious threats, and ensuring your system runs smoothly while you browse. A cluttered or sluggish computer can slow you down and even make you more susceptible to scams, so giving your Mac a quick cleanup before diving into Cyber Monday deals is a simple but effective safety measure.

Lock down the URL

When inputting sensitive information, especially financial information on a purchasing page, make sure the URL starts with ‘https’. The ‘S’ means it’s secure.

Avoid bank transfer buying

Try to use trusted payment sources only. Professional merchants usually will have websites that support a variety of payment options. Fraudsters tend to prefer bank transfers.

Watch out for those ‘hidden’ subscription traps

Have you ever looked at your account to see a recurring charge that you didn't expect and didn't order? A subscription trap occurs when you're purchasing online and you're tricked into buying additional products or services that you don’t need. Many have been stung by these types of subscription traps. Over the coming days, check your balance very closely!

Protect your most valuable asset, your data

When making purchases online, think twice if you’re asked for additional personal and sensitive data. Are you being asked for ID, passport or driving licence numbers? Or even National Insurance numbers? These details are irrelevant to your purchase. Your identity could end up getting ‘stolen’ and used to commit unscrupulous things.

Beware fake “IT Support”

Some scammers can give the impression that the website you’re visiting has ‘frozen’ and urge you to call a support team to fix it. During the phone call, these scammers can masquerade as major computer companies and persuade you into believing that your computer is riddled with viruses. In reality it is not, and you’ve passed over sensitive information unnecessarily.

Buy from trusted sites only

Buying from third-party sellers, including some social media stores, offers no refund policies and are a haven for fraudsters looking to steal your money.

By keeping sight of these basic rules of engagement, there’s no reason why your Cyber Monday shopping bonanza – even if you’re just hunting for a great deal on a new phone – shouldn’t be an easy, secure and rewarding pre-Christmas indulgence.