Security

Protect yourself from email "phishing" and "pharming" scams 

What is phishing (FISHing)? 
Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to attempt to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, social security number, passwords, and/or other sensitive information. 

E-mail "phishing" is a scam using authentic-looking e-mails that appear to be from a bank, credit card company, government agency or anyone else you may do business with. Such an e-mail may ask you to provide or verify personal or financial information for a variety of reasons: your account has been closed or put on hold; your personal information has been lost; there is a question about a fictitious order you placed; there is money due you; or some other reason. Be aware that these are all attempts to steal your personal information. 

If you receive an e-mail (or phone call) asking for this information, DO NOT RESPOND regardless of how authentic or official looking the e-mail may be, or even if the return address of the email looks legitimate. Often, these e-mails direct you to a web site where you will be asked to enter information. Do not be fooled by these deceptive practices. 

What is pharming (FARMing)? 
Pharming is the redirection of an individual to an illegitimate web site through technical means. 

Pharming can take several forms.  It can attempt to take advantage of slight misspellings in domain names to trick users into inadvertently visiting the pharmer's web site by redirecting the user to, for example, anybnk.com (pharmers illegitimate web site) instead of anybank.com.  Viruses and “Trojans” on a user's personal computer may intercept the user’s request to visit a particular site and redirect the user to the site that the pharmer has set up.  A hacker may steal a company’s web site, allowing the hacker to redirect all legitimate Internet traffic to an illegitimate site. 

If you suspect a scam concerning your banking information, call BankAnnapolis immediately at 410-224-4455 or 800-582-2651. 

If you have given out your personal identification information  

If you believe you have given out personal information such as your name, address, and Social Security number to someone who may use it for fraud: 

Contact one of the major credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion – and do the following:

Major Credit Bureaus

How to practice safe computing 

The number and sophistication of phishing and pharming scams is continuing to increase dramatically.  While online banking is widely considered to be as safe as or safer than in-branch or ATM banking, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet.  Remember, no reputable financial institution will ever request your personal information via e-mail. 

1. Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information.
2. Be careful of e-mails that are not personalized and/or contain spelling errors and/or awkward syntax and phrasing.
3. Be careful of personalized e-mails that ask for personal financial information.  Your bank will never ask for or send you personal financial information by e-mail.
4. Do not use links in an e-mail to get to any web page.  Instead, call the bank on the telephone to confirm the address, or log onto the web site directly by typing in the web address in your browser.
5. Do not complete forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal financial information.
6. Only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure web site.  Secure web sites will have a padlock or key icon at the bottom of your browser.  Make sure the Internet address in your browser address bar begins with “https://...” rather than just “http://...”  While you cannot be completely sure that a web site is secure when its address starts with “https,” you can be sure the web site is not secure when it does not start with “https.”
7. Regularly log on to your online accounts and check, your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate.
8. Ensure that your browser is up to date and has security patches applied.  Install current versions of virus protection software, firewalls and spyware scanning tools, and update them frequently.
9. Use online statements to reduce the volume of paper mailed.

For more information about how to protect yourself from these and other scams, please visit the web sites listed below. (Note: these links take you to external web sites that are not part of, nor maintained by, BankAnnapolis.)