"We are aware of fraudulent phishing e-mails purporting to be from PNC Bank that may have been recently received. The e-mail subject titles are: 'Your account has been limited,' or 'Log on Now.' These e-mails were not sent from PNC," the bank said in an e-mail to users yesterday. "PNC Bank does not send e-mails threatening to lock or suspend your account if you do not take immediate action by providing the appropriate account verification. PNC Bank does not contact our customers asking them to 'update' or 'validate' account information via e-mail."

The text of one of the phishing e-mails making the rounds on June 14 reads like this:

Dear PNC Bank Customer,

We recently noticed one, or more attempts to log into your PNC Bank online banking account from a foreign IP address and we have reasons to believe that your account was hijacked by a third party without your authorization. If you recently accessed your account while traveling, the unusual log in attempts may have initiated by you. However if you are the rightful holder of the account, click on the link below and submit, as we try to verify your online account.

*Please do not respond to this e-mail as your reply will not be received. Please Note: If we do no receive the appropriate account verification within the next 48 hours, your bank account will remain locked and then suspended. The purpose of this verification is to ensure that your account has not been fraudulently used and to combat the fraud from our community.