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Fraud Costs Americans BILLIONS each year. Be an Educated Consumer.
As a consumer and cardholder, you’ve surely seen the stories of identity theft and card fraud that have saturated the news. In an effort to help you avoid becoming a fraud victim, we’re providing this notice to educate you, our customers, about credit and debit card fraud. Here are just some of the common types of fraud you should be aware of:
Identity Theft:
Email Attacks: Use caution with emails requesting information. Fraudulent email often uses threatening language about freezing or terminating your account. Don’t fall for this trick. Never provide your personal, financial, or account information in response to an email request.
If you’re not sure, don’t click on the links. By clicking on false links you may launch a virus that will track your keystrokes. Instead, type the web address you want to visit into the browser address bar. If the email is suspicious and no web address is provided, do not interact with the email.
Contact your financial institution. If you think that an email is suspicious, don’t respond to it. Instead, verify that the email is genuine by typing in your financial institution’s website address in your browser address bar or call the phone number shown on your statement.
Skimming:
Phishing/Spoofing:
Examples of recent fraud:
Again, West Suburban Bank will never ask you to enter personal or account information in an email, or download an attachment from an email. Also, we will never ask you to verify your account number and PIN by phone. Any unsolicited requests for account information you receive through emails or pop-up windows should not be considered a request from West Suburban Bank.
Phone Solicitation Scams: Sometimes it doesn’t take intricate internet or software tools to perpetuate a fraud. The oldest form of fraud is through one-to-one conversation. Also known as Social Engineering or Pretext Calling, these classic scams include phoning up a consumer who has the required information and posing as a customer service representative requesting information such as access ID’s or passcodes. A new scam consists of someone calling you and getting you to reveal the three-digit code on the back of your debit or credit card, known as a CVV code. That is all they need to make fraudulent purchases via the internet. They already have your card number, name, address and phone number. You can read more information about it here.
West Suburban Bank has been made aware of phone calls pretending to be from the West Suburban Bank Security and Fraud Department. These people say they are verifying a charge or check on your account at name of favorite store and asking if you are aware of the charge and if it is not yours, to give them your account (credit/debit/checking) information so that it can be removed. This is another example of a fraudulent scam. Remember, West Suburban Bank will never solicit personal information through email, phone or the internet.
Another common scam has been reported by the IRS involving phone calls and/or emails purporting to get you a sizeable rebate or refund or that you haven't cashed a check sent by the IRS, or to advise you that you are being audited or that there are changes to the tax law that you need to download and review. Another recent trend has been that instead of rebates from the IRS, would be an advance fee loan scam - mortgage refinancing, debt consolidation/elimination, small business loans, and special loan programs for veterans and minorities. While some of these e-mails may advertise legitimate loan programs and lenders, advance fee loan scams are becoming more prevalent.
A new trend is known as "Vishing". This is a combination of “voice” and “phishing,” which refers to the use of Voice over IP to launch attempts to separate unsuspecting customers from their personal information. The callers use social engineering techniques to prey upon consumers’ trust of telephone-based alerts from institutions. And because they are computer-based, the vishing attempts are difficult for legal authorities to monitor or trace. The customer is diverted to a fake call center, complete with a spoofed caller ID name appearing on the telephone's screen.
Stolen, Altered and Fake Cards:
An altered card refers to a regularly issued card with an altered identifying part. This alteration can be anything from a change in the expiration date, signature panel, or even re-encoding the magnetic stripe with another card number.
Fake cards are harder to identify than counterfeit currency. Technology has made it possible for criminals to produce legitimate-looking cards and then emboss and encode them with a stolen card’s information.
For more information on the scams listed above and more, visit Fakechecks.org.
What can you personally do to protect your WSB cards and prevent fraud? The following list of proactive steps will help keep your personal and financial information secure:
By taking these precautions, you can help protect yourself from fraud.
Sometimes preventing fraud is out of your control.
When information is stolen from a retailer, the most you can do is to review your credit & debit card statements for any activity that you do not recognize as your own and if you find purchases or charges that are not yours, report them to your financial institution as soon as possible.
When we are notified of these cases by Visa, we immediately initiate protective steps to ensure that your exposure is limited by replacing your card to protect you from any fraudulent activity.
Are you about to give out your personal information to someone else? Do you suspect you're about to be scammed? Ask yourself:
While there is no way to protect yourself 100%, taking precautions and getting in the habit of asking yourself these questions can improve your chances of being safe from becoming a victim of fraud.
If you do find that your information or identity has been compromised, there are steps you can take.
The best thing you can do if you have been the victim of Identity Theft is to visit the Federal Trade Commission website or call 1-877-ID-THEFT, the FTC's toll-free Identity Theft hotline. The following are a few of the tips stated:
WSB and Visa are committed to protecting your accounts:
You get an extraordinary level of protection with West Suburban Bank’s security measures and Visa’s Zero Liability policy, which guarantees maximum protection against fraud.
Wherever you use your WSB Visa Credit or Debit Card, you can feel confident knowing that you’re protected.
West Suburban Bank will never ask for any personal financial information through email. Our website should never be accessed through a link in an email. To access our website type www.westsuburbanbank.com.
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