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Phishing Scams:
The term "phishing" -as in fishing for
confidential information- refers to a scam that tries to
get the recipient to reveal confidential, personal and
financial information. This is how it works:
You, the consumer, receive an email which appears to be
from a legitimate financial institution, government agency
or other well-known entity. The email asks you to
verify or re-submit personal information by directing you
to click on a link in the email. The link provided
appears to be a legitimate web site but in fact, the web
site belongs to the scammer. Once inside the
fraudulent web site, you may be asked to provide Social
Security numbers, account numbers, password or other
confidential information. If you provide this
information, the scammer then has access to your accounts
or they may assume your identity.
Pharming Scam:
Using a false Internet-address ruse called
"domain spoofing" to trick users into thinking they are on
a known, secure site while they enter private and
financial information.
Cardholder Fraud Attack:
Shazam has been alerted to a "mishing"
fraud attack that is targeting
cardholders, many of whom are
customers of Shazam participating
financial institutions. The
attack consists of a text message
sent to mobile phones stating
"Notice: Issues Found On Your
Shazam Mastercard. Please
Call 13035780902!" This
number currently hosts an
automated recording demanding the
entry of the Personal Account
Number (PAN). Additional
confidential information is then
requested from the cardholder.
These calls are fraudulent and
have not been authorized by Shazam.
Shazam Cardholder Alert:
SHAZAM wants cardholders to be aware of a phishing
attack where e-mail messages appear to be from "Shazam
Inc. Bank." SHAZAM never asks
cardholders for personal identity data or financial
account information via e-mail. There is also
another vishing fraud attack by automated telephone calls
in which a prerecorded voice advises the recipient that
the call is on behalf of SHAZAM and that the cardholder
must "reactivate" his or her card by entering information
immediately. If you receive such
a request, do not give out any information but contact SHAZAM right away at "emailfraud@shazam.net".
NOTE: Please do not send account numbers, account
requests or other personal information such as a social
security number via email.
Internet Buyer Con:
This scheme preys on an honest person selling something on
the internet. the buyer overpays for the item and
then asks the seller to return the overpayment.
There are many variations to this scheme. The buyer
may say the overpayment was an error and ask you to return
the excess funds by wire or money order. The buyer
may say he will wire the funds but instead sends a
check. In the end, this scheme tricks the seller
into depositing the check in his account and then return
the extra funds to the buyer. The seller is out the
money when the bad check is returned.
Jury Duty Scam:
Most of us take the summonses for jury duty seriously,
but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new
and ominous kind of scam has surfaced. Fall for it
and your identity could be stolen. 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 information
and your identity just got stolen. In realty, court
workers will never call you to ask for social security
numbers and other private information.
The substance of this can be verified at;
snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
Fraudulent E-Mails from the FDIC:
The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) has issued
a Consumer Alert concerning
fraudulent emails that appear
to have been sent from Donald
E Powell, Chairman Emeritus
FDIC; John D Hawke Jr.,
Comptroller of the Currency,
and Michael E Bartell, Chief
Information Officer, FDIC.
The subject line of the emails
read: "Account Insurance
from FDIC" or "FDIC Insurance"
and tells recipients that
their "account has been denied
insurance from the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation
due to suspected violations of
the Patriot Act."
Recipients are asked to click
on a link to verify personal
information which will be
checked against a federal
government database for
identity verification.
Of course, the link is
fraudulent, either divulging
the personal information to
criminals or loading malware
on the victims computer.
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
financial information through this media.
NEW NOTICE: The FDIC has received
notification of another fraudulent e-mail claiming to be
received from the FDIC. These e-mails are attempting
to trick recipients into installing unknown software on
personal computers. These e-mails falsely indicate
that recipients should download and open a "personal FDIC
insurance file" to check their deposit insurance coverage.
The "insurance file" may actually be a form of spyware or
malicious code and may collect personal or confidential
information.
Consumers are asked to report any similar attempts to
obtain this information to the FDIC by sending information
to alert@fdic.gov.
NOTE: Please do not send account numbers, account
requests or other personal information such as a social security number via
email.
Credit Card Solicitations:
You can dramatically reduce the number of credit card
solicitations being sent your way by asking the credit
reporting agencies not to sell your name to credit card
marketers and others. Call 888-567-8688 or go
to OptOutPrescreen.com to opt
out of solicitations.
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