Online Fraud Information

Fraudulent Grand Jury Summons Containing Malware:

http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm

The IC3 warns consumers of recently reported spam e-mail containing a fraudulent subpoena notifying recipients they are commanded to appear and testify before a Grand Jury. The e-mail attempts to appear authentic by containing a court case number, federal code, name and address of a California federal court, court room number, issuing officers' names, and a court seal. Recipients are directed to click the link provided in the e-mail in order to download and print associated information for their records. If the recipient clicks the link, malicious code is downloaded onto their computer.

The e-mail also contains language threatening recipients with contempt of court charges if they fail to appear. Recipients are also told the subpoena will remain in effect until the court grants a release. As with most spam, the content contains multiple spelling errors.

If you receive this type of notification and are unsure of its authenticity, you should contact the issuing court for validation.

Be aware; if you receive an unsolicited e-mail, especially from an unknown sender, it is recommended you do not open it. If you do open the e-mail, do not click any embedded links, as they may contain a virus or malware.

If you have received an e-mail similar to this, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov

Fraudulent E-mails Claiming To Be From The FDIC:

Be sure to see the official warning at the FDIC website: http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2008/sa08057.html

IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E-mail Scams:

Be sure to see the official warning at the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=170894,00.html

"Updated Sept. 19, 2007 - Another recent e-mail scam tells taxpayers that the IRS has calculated their "fiscal activity" and that they are eligible to receive a tax refund of a certain amount. Taxpayers receive a page of, or are sent to, a Web site (titled "Get Your Tax Refund!") that copies the appearance of the genuine "Where's My Refund?" interactive page on the genuine IRS Web site. Like the real "Where's My Refund?" page, taxpayers are asked to enter their SSNs and filing status. However, the phony Web page asks taxpayers to enter their credit card account numbers instead of the exact amount of refund as shown on their tax return, as the real "Where's My Refund?" page does. Moreover, the IRS does not send e-mails to taxpayers to advise them of refunds or to request financial information."

Fraudulent E-Mails Claim To Be From ViewPoint Bank Financial Solutions In Association With The FDIC.

The FDIC has become aware of e-mails that appear to be sent from ViewPoint Bank Financial Solutions and the FDIC. The e-mail requests the recipient to register for a "SON - Secure Online Network" code to protect against credit card fraud. The e-mail instructs the recipient to click on a hyperlink to initiate "SON" registration in an attempt to acquire the recipient's personal financial information. These e-mails are fraudulent and were not sent by either ViewPoint Bank or the FDIC. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT access the link provided within the body of these e-mails and should NOT, under any circumstances, provide any personal financial information through this media. The FDIC does not directly contact consumers, nor does the FDIC request personal financial information from consumers.

The fraudulent e-mails describe fictitious relationships between the FDIC and VISA, MasterCard, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon.com, and Half.com. The e-mails claim that consumers will receive a 15 percent discount at various Web sites upon completion of the form. These fraudulent e-mails may be modified over time, reflecting different financial institution names or business relationships.

The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the fraudulent e-mails, and disrupt the transmission. Until this is achieved, consumers and financial institutions should notify the FDIC at alert@fdic.gov of any similar attempts to obtain personal financial information.

Information about counterfeit items, cyber-fraud incidents and other fraudulent activity may be forwarded to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-4004, Washington, D.C. 20429, or transmitted electronically to alert@fdic.gov. Information related to federal deposit insurance or consumer issues should be submitted to the FDIC using an online form that can be accessed at http://www2.fdic.gov/starsmail/index.asp.

Fraudulent E-Mail Claims To Be From The FDIC

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has become aware of fraudulent e-mails appearing to be from the FDIC. The e-mails ask recipients to click on a hyperlink titled "Take the Corrective Action - Implement the LinkBank System." When accessed, the hyperlink takes the individual to a "spoofed" FDIC Web page. At that point, the individual is directed to provide online banking information, including bank name, username, and password.

The fraudulent e-mails appear in "memo format" and are purportedly from "Russell A. Rau, Assistant Inspector General for Audits." The e-mails include a "Subject" line that states: "Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection's Risk-Focused Compliance Examination Process for [recipient's name inserted] (Report No. 05-038)."

The FDIC does not directly contact consumers in this manner, nor does the FDIC request personal financial information from consumers. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT access the link provided within the body of these e-mails and should NOT, under any circumstances, provide any personal financial information through this medium.

Financial institutions and consumers should be aware that other similar e-mails may be sent that falsely claim to be from the FDIC.

The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the fraudulent e-mails and disrupt the transmission. Until this is achieved, consumers and financial institutions should notify the FDIC at alert@fdic.gov of any similar attempts to obtain personal financial information.

For your reference, FDIC Special Alerts may be accessed from the FDIC's website at http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2007/index.html. To learn how to automatically receive FDIC Special Alerts through e-mail, please visit www.fdic.gov/about/subscriptions/index.html.

Fraudulent FDIC E-Mails Being Received

FDIC Consumer Call Centers in Kansas City, MO., and Washington D.C., have been receiving a large number of complaints by consumers who received an e-mail that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. The e-mail informs the recipient that Department of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge has advised the FDIC to suspend all deposit insurance on the recipients bank account due to suspected violations of the USA PATRIOT ACT. The e-mail further indicates that deposit insurance will be suspended until personal identity, including bank account information, can be verified.

This e-mail was not sent by the FDIC and is a fraudulent attempt to obtain personal information from consumers. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT access the link provided within the body of the e-mail and should NOT under any circumstances provide any personal information through this media.

The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the e-mails and disrupt the transmission. Until this is achieved, consumers are asked to report any similar attempts to obtain this information to the FDIC by sending information to alert@fdic.gov.

Jury Duty Scam

In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator.

If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this information and bingo! Your identity just got stolen.

The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, Colorado, Texas and California..

This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

An Article From the Oklahoma Banker Direct

A publication of the Oklahoma Bankers Association
March 22, 2006
P.O. Box 18246, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-0246 · (405) 424-5252 · www.oba.com

Watch for these new scams!

Here's something that came to our attention today, from two different sources. It's an article by Andrea Coombes, and it's taken from today's edition of Market Watch. It warns against the latest fraud scam involving the Internal Revenue Service.

On the e-mail the victim receives, the IRS logo looks real and the message appears to have been sent from the right place. There's also a "copyright 2006 IRS" tag at the end of the message which adds to the appearance of authenticity.

But it's a scam.

Ms. Coombes' article notes that "scammers . . . are swamping consumers' e-mail inboxes with messages notifying them of an audit or offering access to a refund. The fraudsters' aim is to collect your Social Security number, credit card account number, and bank information."

According to the article, consumer complaints about the e-mail scams are pouring in at the rate of about 100 a day on average, according to Bonnie Heald, a spokeswoman at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, which oversees IRS-related fraud, waste and abuse. So far, TIGTA has found 12 Web sites operated in 18 countries perpetrating this or similar types of IRS-related fraud.

According to Ms. Coombes' article, when you click on the link posted in the e-mail, the resulting location looks eerily similar to the official IRS.gov Web page. Scammers copied the official IRS logo, and even the type font matches the IRS site.

And, if you click on the "Home" button, it takes you to the official IRS site, at www.IRS.gov.

IRS won't e-mail you

Ms. Coombs' excellent article notes that the IRS generally does not send e-mail messages to taxpayers.

"We do not communicate with taxpayers via e-mail. We may send you a letter, we may call you, but we do not send out e-mail," an IRS spokesperson was quoted as saying. She also said the bulk of the scams have been through e-mail, though sometimes fraudsters will mail a regular letter, or even call taxpayers.

"If taxpayers get any communication that purports to be from the IRS and if they're not sure that it's a legitimate correspondence and it's asking for financial information, they need to call us and check it out. Mathis said. "Some of these e-mail scams that I saw, they would not only ask for your bank account number, they would ask for your password to your bank account - something we would never ask for." She noted, however, that "we do communicate with taxpayers probably more frequently than people think. It's not just through audits."

To find out whether a communication you received from the IRS is legitimate, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. Ask them to confirm that the IRS is trying to contact you.

The other scam that's going around involves a caller who says the victim didn't show up for jury duty and there's going to be the devil to pay. The request is for the usual information, and - again - it's just a scam.

Let your customers know about these fraudsters and how they're hitting your customer base across Oklahoma. You'll be a real hero to your customers if you simply make them aware of these crooks.

If for some reason you haven't yet had Elaine Dodd come to your bank and talk to your employees and put on a program for your customers, call us at the OBA so we can get one scheduled. So far there's no charge for this great service, and we've encouraged bankers of all sizes all across the state to take advantage of this tremendous membership benefit.

For questions, call Roger Beverage at the OBA - (405) 424-5252.

Phone Scams Going On

Beware Phone Calls asking for information. We received this letter from the Oklahoma Bankers Association.

A publication of the Oklahoma Bankers Association
Dec. 9, 2005
P.O. Box 18246, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-0246 · (405) 424-5252 · www.oba.com

Widespread scam spreading throughout state

Oklahoma has seen scams in years past where people have received calls from individuals asking for their banking information, but never in such large numbers in such a short amount of time.

The Oklahoma Bankers Association is receiving reports across the state about scams that seem to be initiated from a single source, with potentially a large number of callers and phone lines at their disposal. Bank customers (often senior citizens) are receiving calls that state the caller is with their bank (without actually naming the bank). The caller says something has created an error on their account and they need to verify information so that it can be corrected.

Other reports vary slightly, with the callers saying they are from the National Bureau of Verification. Customers are then asked to get their bank statement to verify information pertaining to a bank error. In this second version the callers do not claim to be from the bank, and in the first they are non-specific as to the name of the bank - both of which indicate they do not have actual banking information on any of the customers prior to the call.

Reports seem to indicate that there are at least two male callers (one male identifying himself as Peter Daily) and at least two female. The male callers are known to become more aggressive and even belligerent. In the last two days, the OBA has received reports and calls from Shawnee, Okmulgee, Walters, Skiatook, Bristow, Oklahoma City, Duncan and Stonewall. It is unknown how they are targeting senior citizens but this does seem to be the case.

This may only be a function of the larger number of seniors who could potentially be home during the daytime hours when they are placing the calls. In a few isolated cases, customers have stated that the callers knew where they banked, had routing numbers and had the number of their last check. This has not been confirmed but could be accomplished by slick scammers actually leading customers into giving information without realizing they were the source.

Customers need to be warned not to ever give their bank account information or any other personal information out through unsolicited phone calls or e-mails. Any customers receiving such calls should hang up and call the bank back to verify that they are talking with their true bank representative. If anyone has received such a call and thinks they may have inadvertently shared their account information, they should contact their bank immediately and have their account closed and reopen another.

The OBA was able to get the information into the Oklahoman business section in today's paper thanks to the late evening efforts of reporter Don Mecoy and similar information should appear in the Lawton Constitution, thanks to Lawton Police Department and Megan on the Constitution staff.

Remember: Advantage Bank will NEVER call you and ask you for your ACCOUNT NUMBER!!!

Spyware On Computers

Checking your account online? Be careful on what computers you use to access your online banking account. If it is a computer that is not yours, or that you don't know what programs it has, it could contain Spyware. With Spyware, the computer could send your account numbers, username, and passwords to other people waiting to steal that information for Identity Theft. Always be sure to check your account from a computer that you trust, or know doesn't contain Spyware!

E-Mail Fraud

Customers have recently informed us that they are receiving e-mails claiming to be from a financial institution. The sender wants the customer, some who don't even have an account with that institution, to go to a website and submit information such as account numbers, social security numbers, PIN numbers, or other confidential information. Some e-mail senders even threaten to close the account if the information is not provided within a certain amount of time. These are fraudulent e-mails that are trying to gain your financial information. At times, even visiting the link provided in the e-mail can allow certain software to be installed on your computer without your knowledge. This software then tries to search your computer for information.

Please know that Advantage Bank will NEVER e-mail you to ask for "updated information" or confidential information. If you feel that you have received an e-mail from us that is fraudulent, or if you are our customer that has received an e-mail from another institution requesting personal information, please forward these e-mails to the address listed below. We will then attempt to contact the proper institution and report the attempted scam.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions!

You can report suspected fraudulent e-mails to: Fraud@advantagebank.biz

Counterfeit Postal Money Orders

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is alerting financial institutions and their customers to beware of the latest fraud scheme involving counterfeit postal money orders.

Postal Inspectors are offering valuable advice concerning the security features of postal money orders. Similar to United States currency, postal money orders are specially designed with different colored inks, watermarks, and security threads. Genuine postal money orders contain ALL of the following features:

Two security markings, which can be viewed by holding the postal money order to the light:

Benjamin Franklin images (watermarks) concealed in a white oval on the left-front side of the money order, visible on both the front and reverse sides when held to light, and

A dark security thread on the front of the money order, running top to bottom to the right of the Franklin watermark, which when held to light reveals the word "USPS " repeating through the thread and alternating right-side up and up-side down in format. The words should only be visible when held to a light source.

Warning instructions printed on the reverse

Denominations displayed in two locations on the front, without discoloration around the dollar amounts (discoloration may indicate alteration)

Maximum value for domestic postal money orders is $1,000; international postal money orders are limited to $700.

For additional information and resources on fraudulent money orders:

Verify - Call the money order verification system at 866-459-7822.

Report - If you suspect fraud, call the U.S. Postal Inspection Service® at 877-876-2455 (Follow the prompts).

Note: New Window Will Open Not Associated With Advantage Bank