Consumer Alerts

A particularly alarming form of malware continues to impact businesses and consumers. “Ransomware” is a harmful software that restricts access to an infected computer and requests that the victim pay ransom in order to regain control of the system, files or accounts. The fraudster perpetrating the ransomware may even monitor the victim’s activity for a period prior to deploying the scam so that they can display actual personal or financial information to scare the victim into paying the ransom. Computers are generally infected with the ransomware when the victim receives a phony email claiming to be from a government agency, […]

Please be aware that area consumers have reported receiving suspicious phone calls that appear to be coming from Meredith Village Savings Bank and other local financial institutions. The caller ID information displayed is “spoofed” to appear as though it originated from the bank. Meredith Village Savings Bank won’t contact you requesting financial payment information such as your account or debit card number. These calls are fraudulent and are not being made by MVSB or any other local financial institution. Should you receive a phone call of this nature, please hang up and do not provide any information. If you’ve received […]

Our Risk Management Department has received notifications that members of the local community are receiving phone calls from an area code 212 (New York) phone number that has been in a foreign language and has music playing in the background. The language is most likely Mandarin Chinese and is similar to a phone scam from April 2018. The original version targeted consumers in cities with large Chinese populations and attempted to pressure victims into picking up a package at the Chinese consulate or provide information to the Chinese consulate to keep from getting into trouble. This was successful in tricking […]

Our Risk Management department noted that we’ve recently heard from some of our business customers about an uptick in a very common business email compromise – when a hacker gains access to an email account and begins to send emails pretending to be the true email owner. Hackers often attach malicious content to the emails all in an attempt to get the victim to click on it to further perpetuate the fraud trend. Also, hackers use BECs as a way to trick victims into believing they are speaking with a known contact and attempt to persuade them into providing sensitive […]

You may remember that two years ago on July 29, 2017, one of the three top credit reporting companies was the victim of a major data breach.  Equifax announced that the personal and financial information of approximately 148 million Americans had likely been compromised.  Sensitive information included in the compromise included names, birthdates, addresses, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.  Since Equifax receives information from financial institutions to determine credit scores, more than direct customers of Equifax are victims.  If you have made any payment toward a loan or credit card previous to July 29, 2017, there is a […]

What happened? It is all too timely in light of the recent settlement talks of the 2017 Equifax breach, that it was disclosed this morning that Capital One has suffered a data breach. Between March 22nd and 23rd, 2019, a software engineer was able to access information to more than 100 million Capital One customers in the US and Canada. Those affected include anyone who obtained one of the company’s credit cards dating back to 2005. Information taken during the breach includes the data Capital One routinely collects at the time it receives credit card applications, including names, addresses, zip […]

This spring and summer, our Risk Management team noted that our area seems to be seeing an uptick in credential stuffing, a type of cyber attack. While hackers have not been able to use this attack to access accounts at the Bank, we wanted to alert you to this increased risk against all of your web-based shopping and banking.  If we believe hackers are trying to access online banking using your username, we will be reaching out to you to alert you and discuss how to protect your information and your accounts. Hackers use credential stuffing to hijack your online […]

There has been a significant rise in fictitious Zelle charges debiting consumer accounts in recent weeks. Fraudsters are using stolen debit card information to send instant payments to fictitious accounts. With the stolen card data, fraudsters are able to enroll in Zelle, a popular digital payments network and mobile app similar to Venmo and PayPal. Due to the instantaneous features of Zelle, where consumers are able to transfer money between parties quickly, it is difficult to stop or retrieve funds once the receiver accepts payment. It is likely that fictitious receiving accounts were pre-established to allow for the stolen funds […]

A recent phishing scam is targeting businesses and consumers who use Office 365 email services. Fraudsters are gaining access to Office 365 accounts by stealing login credentials obtained using convincing fake login screens. Fraudster email attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated – often appearing to be sent from a business, organization, or individual the victim normally emails or does business with. The fictitious emails contain malicious links or attachments that redirect the victim to a fake login page asking for their email username and password. Once the information is entered, fraudsters then use the stolen credentials to log into Office 365 and send fraudulent […]

We’ve been seeing an increase in reports of timeshare resale scams impacting area residents. Timeshare resale scams often begin when a phony vacation property company reaches out to a timeshare owner claiming to have guaranteed buyers and promising hefty returns for their timeshare. The company stresses that they must move quickly and be willing to pay registration, closing costs and other fees in advance of the sale. If you own or are selling a timeshare, be leary of companies that promise large returns and request upfront fees – two tell-tale signs that it’s likely a scam. If you own a […]