BEWARE OF "PHISHING".

(Pronounced "Fishing")

Recently we were informed that a woman was the victim of fraudulent activity and all the money in her savings and checking accounts at her bank was transferred to another account via online banking. 

This all happened because of an email she received and responded to over the weekend.  While everything on this email indicated that it was from her bank ( including the need for her to enter her password and verify her site key picture that ensures she is in her account), it was not from her bank !  It was something called a Phisher. 

Phishers obtain information from consumers by using fake, look-alike sites to obtain customer information. Visitors to the site– mistaking it for legitimate– submit their personal information, which can end up in the wrong hands. This woman spent 1.5 hours on the telephone with the bank and had to close her accounts, and file a report at police station. Her next step was to file a claim with the Credit Bureau in an effort to prevent identity theft.  Thankfully customers of her bank are fraud protected and they were able to reverse the transactions pending the claim research.

We wanted to share this information with you in case you get a similar email.  Do not respond to it.  We are reminded often not to give out our personal information to someone we don't know, however, she trusted that this was legitimate since she had to enter her password.  Big lesson learned!

If you receive an email and the sender appears to be a bank, DO NOT respond to it. CALL YOUR BANK FIRST to verify that it is a legitimate request. Our research verified that most banks will not solicite personal information via email and they too advised us to have anyone in this situation contact the Consumer Service Department of their bank before responding to any email of this nature.

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Last website update: 8/20/2010