Here are some helpful tips to keep you
from becoming a victim of fraud.

  • Monitor your accounts on a regular basis. Use our online banking and bill pay service to keep up to date on your account information. The victim discovers most identity fraud, and the earlier you detect the fraud, the lower the financial impact can be.
  • Check your credit report annually. With new regulations, everyone is able to receive a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once a year. You can do this by going to www.annualcreditreport.com. For more details about this service, please visit the Federal Trade Commission website for more details, and view their brochure "Your Access to Free Credit Reports".

There are many types of online fraud.
Below are a few of the most common.

Phishing
Phishing is a criminal activity using social engineering techniques. Phishers attempt to fraudulently obtain sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details by acting as a trustworthy person or business via e-mail. Phishing is typically carried out using email, but an instant message or phone contact can been used. To learn more about phishing and how to prevent becoming a victim visit the Federal Trade Commission website or view our Phishing Brochure.

Spyware
Spyware is a type of program that watches what users do with their computer and then sends that information over the Internet. Spyware can collect many different types of information about a user. More benign programs can attempt to track what types of websites a user visits and send this information to a business to target advertising to you. More malicious versions can try to record what a user types to try to intercept passwords or credit card numbers. Yet other versions simply launch popup advertisements.

Viruses
Some viruses are programmed to damage the computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard disk. Others are not designed to do any damage, but simply to replicate themselves and make their presence known by presenting text, video, and audio messages. Even these benign viruses can create problems for the computer user. They typically take up computer memory used by legitimate programs. As a result, they often cause erratic behavior and can result in system crashes. In addition, many viruses are bug-ridden, and these bugs may lead to system crashes and data loss.