Beware of "Phishing"

"Phishing" is the act of sending an e-mail or pop-up advertisement that claims to be from a legitimate business or organization that you deal with. Scam artists recreate pages using information from legitimate web sites in hopes of fooling consumers into providing their personal information.

The e-mail or pop-up will ask you to "update" or "validate" your account information, passwords, logins, and will make some form of urgent appeal so that you will respond quickly. The e-mail or pop-up may direct you to a fraud web site that may appear to be from a trusted source.

Some consumers mistakenly submit financial and personal information and the "phishers" will use it to gain access to financial records or accounts, commit identity theft or engage in illegal acts.

We will NEVER request any personal information (such as account numbers, passwords, PINS, Social Security Numbers, etc.) through an unsecured email OR telephone call. In addition, First Federal does not use pop-up advertisements.

 

Recognizing "Phishing"

It may not always be easy to recognize fraud emails or pop-ups but there are some precautions:

Watch out for e-mails or pop-ups that state an urgent reply is needed or your account may be closed. Watch out for e-mails or pop-up that provides a general greeting and doesn't identify you by name. Fraudulent e-mails or pop-ups may have typographical or grammatical errors. Watch out for poor visual and design quality. Vishing Attacks

Scam artists contact individuals via telephone and/or automated calls to verify debit card, credit card or other personal information in an attempt to get you to disclose otherwise secure information. The caller may indicate they have partial information and is seeking to confirm additional items or security information.

The best deterent for a Vishing Attack is to NEVER disclose personal information to a telephone contact not initiated by you.

How to Protect Yourself!

• DO NOT click on links you receive from a third-party asking for personal information or account numbers. To access the legitimate web site, you should type the web site name, URL address into the web browser or by using a "bookmark." (example: http://www.ffsmid.com)
• DO NOT send confidential information such as account numbers, passwords, or PINs by email.
• DO NOT share your IDs or passwords with anyone.
• DO NOT disclose personal information to a telephone contact not initiated by you.
• CALL the financial institution or business directly to confirm requests for updating or verifying personal or account information.
• LOOK for a secure connection on web sites asking for personal or account information. Normally, the URL will begin with https:// in the browser address bar. Also, a "padlock" icon will appear at the bottom of your browser window.
• VERIFY Web Site Security Certificates within your Web Browser.
• UPDATE the security features of your computer software, including your Web Browser. Software companies provide security updates to their products. To learn more about computer security, visit http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect.
• ALWAYS logoff web sites for secure areas of web sites (for example: Online Banking) for which you use an ID and Password to enter.Only give personal information over encrypted websites – those using the https:// at the beginning of their address