Santander Portugal scam email: new message

Reported as phishing

This email was reported as phishing in October 2026. It claims to come from: Santander Portugal. It was aimed at Portugal and written in Portuguese.

This email was reported as phishing. It uses the Santander Portugal name and look, but it did not come from Santander Portugal. If you have an account, Santander Portugal is not asking you to act through this email.

This email uses the name of Santander in Portugal and is written in Portuguese. It says you have a new important message and asks you to click a button to read it "at your convenience". It ends with the bank's legal footer and a note not to reply, so it looks like an automatic bank notice. The link host is a misspelled copy of the bank's name on an unrelated domain.

A calm "you have a message" note doesn't feel like a trick, so people click out of curiosity. The best tell is the link: the bank's name is spelled wrong, with letters swapped, and sits on a domain that has nothing to do with the bank. Hidden text in another language is also tucked into the email to slip past spam filters.

• Aimed at: Portugal
• Month reported: October 2026
• Email language: Portuguese

What the email looks like

Re-typed from the original with personal details removed. This is not the original email. This was a button in the original email. Here it is only a picture of the text and does nothing.

Subject line

• Aviso importante

Red flags

• Sender address is not on a Santander domain
• Vague "new message" with a single button to "read" it
• Link host is a misspelled lookalike of the bank name (letters swapped, e.g. "santactder") on an unrelated domain
• Hidden decoy text in another language (an unrelated French newsletter) placed in the email to fool spam filters
• Uses the bank's legal footer to look genuine

Links in the email (shown as plain text)

Links are defanged: "hxxp" and "[.]" stop them from working. Never retype them or copy them into your browser.

What to do

1. Do not click the "read message" button or any link in the email, and do not reply.
2. Do not open attachments. Never type a password, card number or code on a page you reached from this email.
3. If you are unsure, go to your bank yourself by typing its address or using its official app, not through the email.
4. Read messages from your bank only by signing in to the bank's official app or website directly.
5. Mark the email as phishing or spam in your mail app, then delete it.
6. If you already signed in through the email, change your password now and turn on two-step sign-in. Call your bank if you shared card or bank details.

How to report it

In your mail app, use "Report phishing" or "Report junk" so the app learns to block similar emails. You can also forward the email to the real company's abuse or security team, using an address from its official website. If you lost money, report it to your bank and to your local police.

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• Your email provider: "Your email password will expire in 24 hours" - keep current password

These emails did not come from the companies or services they name. Brand names belong to their owners and are shown only to help you recognise the scam.