COOS BAY — Elizabeth Krambeal of North Bend was lucky. She received a fraudulent e-mail this week bearing the Wells Fargo bank red-and-gold logo, but decided not to open a link that said “click here.”

“That was the signal,” Krambeal said. “We thought it just didn’t sound right.”

Krambeal reported it to her bank branch in Coos Bay on Friday.

That click would have sent Krambeal to a spoof Web site, Coos Bay Wells Fargo Branch Manager Debbie Williams said. After that, any personal information she might have entered the criminals would have seen, too.

“If you open up that link, they can see everything that’s in your computer,” Williams said.

Others have not been so fortunate.

Williams says complaints about phishing e-mails come in cycles. Phishing is the act in which a scammer sends fraudulent e-mails that use clever and compelling language to entice people into giving out personal information. Williams receives five or six customer complaints a month, then she won’t hear anything for a couple months. Although the bank reimburses money lost through fraud, an investigation can take a couple weeks to a month.

“We’ve had to do loans because people have gone into the hole,” Williams said.

Krambeal’s e-mail said the bank had been receiving complaints about unauthorized use of accounts and has been making extra security checks to protect customers from theft and fraud.

In other scams, phishers have sent people e-mails indicating an e-mail address has changed and the bank needs to verify a customer’s address, or maybe an account was locked and personal information is needed to unlock it. Another e-mail tells people there are insufficient funds in their accounts, so “click here to access your account.”

These e-mails are sent to a wide audience, according to Wells Fargo.

Scammers obtain the e-mails through the Internet or sometimes they buy them. Sometimes phishers guess e-mail addresses, in hopes that some of the e-mails go to actual bank customers.

When someone does enter information, the phisher takes that account number, or Social Security number, pin number, address or any other personal information, and uses it to access or transfer money from one  account to another.

Williams said it’s important to remember that your bank would never ask for personal information by phone or e-mail. A customer would be notified about any account problems in messages accessed through their online bank account.

The bank Web site is protected by fire walls that don’t allow hackers in. Home computers have to have fire walls to set up online banking, too.

Williams recommends customers sign up for their bank’s online bill pay, which is protected unlike general business Web sites on which customers can pay bills.

“If you have to give out your account number and debit number, you’re giving them control,” she said.

Fraudsters use other methods, too. They approach unsuspecting people and offer them money for personal checks, Williams said. They steal mail. Once they have an account number they can print out checks with a computer program that can be purchased at a computer supply store.

“It’s scary,” Williams said.

People should only keep what they need to pay their bills in their checking accounts, Williams said. The rest should be deposited into a savings account.

Williams said she believes in customers getting to know their bankers too. She has made calls on suspicious banking transactions before, just to check and make sure everything is legitimate.

“Just about the time you think, this is Coos Bay, it’s not going to happen, it happens,” Williams said.