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With today’s technology, it’s important to learn how to protect yourself against the latest fraudulent activities circulating the Internet and email. These activities include, but are not limited to, phishing, pop-up messages, spam and more. At Texas State Bank, we want you to be aware of these activities so that you can protect your identity, financial resources, privacy and your property.

Protect your accounts
Find out exactly what these fraudulent activities are, how to spot them when they come across your monitor, and how to prevent them.

Report Fraudulent Activities
Learn who to report fraudulent activities to and what you can do if it has already happened to you.
FBI Fraud Alert


Protect your accounts

Unfortunately there are people out there who will do anything to make money and acquire nice things, even at others expense. Many of these people are using technology to perpetrate their criminal activities. Some of these activities include, but are not limited to , pop-up messages , phishing, spam and more.

The first step you can take to protect your account is to educate yourself on what these activities are. Once you are aware of these activities, you will be able to identify and avoid them as they cross your electronic path.

Over the Internet

On the Internet you may come across many pop-up messages when you go to certain websites. Most of these are advertisements; however, some are not. Anytime you see a message pop up asking for your personal information, such as your credit card or bank account numbers, your social security number or your account password, beware. Like most reputable companies, Texas State Bank has a policy that we will never solicit your personal information via an online or email communication.

If a company does collect personal information, they should only ask over a secured website. A secured website will have a small gold-colored lock lock on the right side of your status bar, which is at the bottom of your browser window. If the pop-up message has a website link to it and the link address looks like a suspicious address (a numeric address or one with a lot of special characters), then you should not provide any information. If in doubt, it is much safer to call the company than to provide the information requested online.

Via Email

With the growing popularity of email, many unethical people are trying to take advantage of it. It is important to recognize emails that could be detrimental to either your financial security or your computer. When accessing your email, please look out for phishing, spam and more. Please note that for your own protection, Texas State Bank will never ask for or send your personal information using email.


Phishing

Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is the act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to trick the user into surrendering private information that can lead to identity theft. By spamming a large number of people, phishers count on the email reaching some people who actually have an account with the enterprise falsely portrayed. More often than not, someone will surrender his or her private information to these counterfeit sites just because they actually look like the real site.

The FBI claims that Phishing is the "hottest and most troubling scam on the Internet.” Phishing is not just limited to personal information; phishers can also send emails with virus attachments. Phishers know that most people that use computers, more specifically, the Internet, have little to no knowledge about security.

An alarming 70% of all people that reported identity theft attribute it to following email instructions requesting their personal information on a counterfeit website that looked just like the real site. There are at least 10 new phishing sites added to the Internet everyday. Some of these illegal sites are shutdown immediately because they are quickly caught, but many are still active and continue to harvest information daily.

Recognizing Phishing
Most phishing emails contain the following traits:

  • They have strange requests for sensitive information, such as your Social Security number, banking account numbers, or credit card account information including your mother’s maiden name.
  • The email subject line contains misspelled words, which are normally very obvious and sometimes randomly include numbers or special characters.
  • They start generic greetings, such as Dear user; Dear Subscriber; Dear Sir or Madame.
  • The sender’s email address is suspicious, possibly a numeric address or one with a lot of special characters.
  • They include a link to unsecured websites , where the small gold-colored lock lock is missing from the right side of your status bar, which is at the bottom of your browser window.
  • The message includes threats to close your account for abuse or expiration of information, even if you do not have an account with the company.

Prevent Phishing

  • If you do not have an account with the company sending you email, delete it immediately.
  • If you do have an account with the company, never click on links supplied in the email. Instead, open a new browser window and enter the company’s website address in the address bar. DO NOT ENTER THE ADDRESS IN THE EMAIL. When in doubt, it is safer to telephone the company rather than to reply online.
  • Texas State Bank, like most reputable companies, has a policy that we will never solicit your personal information via email or online communication.
  • Never provide your personal information in response to an unsolicited request.
  • No matter how threatening an email is, never respond to it, even if you have an account with the company. Instead call the company to discuss the message content.
  • Never download attachments from an unknown or questionable email source.

SPAM

Many companies have discovered a new venue to reach potential buyers: email. You may see many messages in your inbox where you do not recognize the sender. This could be spam. Spam is unsolicited email messages usually with the intent to sell you some product or service. Spam can also be a mask for fraudulent activity, such as phishing or sending email viruses . We recommend you follow the practices below to both avoid increasing the spam activity in your inbox and to prevent becoming a victim of someone’s illegal activities.

  • Never respond to spam email. For a spammer, one "hit" among thousands of mailings is enough to justify the practice. Instead, if you want a product that is advertised in spam email, go to a website that also carries the product, inquire there, and tell them you do not approve of spam methods and will not patronize a company that uses spammers.
  • Never respond to the spam email instructions to reply with the word "remove." This is just a trick to get you to react to the email -- it alerts the sender that a human is at your address, which greatly increases its value. If you reply, your address is placed on more lists and you receive more spam.
  • Never sign up with sites that promise to remove your name from spam lists. These sites are one of two kinds: (1) sincere or (2) spam address collectors. The first kind of site is ignored (or exploited) by the spammers and the second is owned by them. In both cases your address is recorded and valued more highly because you have just identified it as read by a human.
  • Take meaningful action to stop spammers. Filter their messages or their sites using your email provider. Most providers have a filter you can activate. You can separate your spam from your legitimate messages. This may not eradicate the problem, but it should partially help you guard against unwanted email.
  • Be cautious when you join a newsgroup with your email address. Your address may end up in the hands of spammers.

More Email Precautions

With today’s technology improving everyday, email offenders are finding new ways to perpetrate their illegal activities. In addition to trying to steal your identity, financial resources and privacy, some simply want to cause destruction. These offenders, commonly known as hackers, create email viruses mostly designed to ruin your computer. To prevent a virus from infecting your computer you should follow these practices:

  • Never open email from an unknown sender; delete it immediately.
  • Never download unusual attachments even if they appear to be from a sender you know.
  • Always keep your computer operating system and web browser up-to-date.

Anti-Virus Security
There are several companies that provide reliable, anti-virus security. It is imperative to always maintain the newest anti-virus programs, updating the software as new issues are released. The Internet is flooding with thousands of viruses and malicious code for attacks. In the past, a malicious person would have to send detailed instructions to a target in hopes of a successful attack; recently, there have been numerous reports of certain email viruses that can execute and infect your computer as soon you read an email message. There are over 100,000 unique computer viruses and malicious codes on the Internet at any time; make sure that you have adequate protection!


Report Fraudulent Activities

If you encountered a suspicious email, Web site, or pop-up window claiming to be affiliated with Texas State Bank, you should report the situation to us immediately. Always keep in mind that Texas State Bank will never send email containing attachments or require customers to send personal information to us via email or unsolicited pop-up windows.

When you report fraudulent emails, pop-up windows and websites that appear to be from Texas State Bank but are in fact, sent by imposters, we work closely with law enforcement agencies to investigate them.

If you suspect that you have received a fraudulent email, please forward it to us immediately at:

ReportFraud@TexasStateBank.com

You can also forward it to the Federal Trade Commission at:

www.consumer.gov/idtheft

1-877-IDTHEFT