The Fraud Prevention Security Portal is a comprehensive site that explains the most up-to-date scams targeting individuals. The portal addresses traditional fraud scenarios and explains the growing number of online fraud trends, such as fake commerce websites and scams involving social media. Mitigate the risk of becoming a victim by taking advantage of the many e-learning courses available for Bask Bank customers in both English and Spanish here.

When setting a password for your Bask Account or updating your existing password, be sure to use a long password that is eight or more characters. Include upper- and lower-case letters and numbers and change your password regularly. Avoid using the same password for multiple accounts. If all your passwords are the same, a bad actor only needs to hack one account to have access to all your accounts. Avoid using easily guessed passwords, like “password” or “12345.” Password managers and generator tools can be great resources for more secure passwords.

Reliance on mobile devices to perform everyday tasks is becoming increasingly common and can open new avenues for attacks. Some ways to protect yourself include:

• Enable passcode or biometric access on your mobile device
• Monitor how your downloaded apps use your data. You can usually adjust these settings in the application’s privacy settings.
• Set your apps to automatically update to the newest version
• Make sure you have a way to find and erase your phone remotely in the event it is stolen

Never click on suspicious, unsolicited or unknown links if you don’t recognize the link or the person or entity that sent it to you. The same goes for downloading and opening email attachments and other unknown files. Stay in the know about the latest scams and how they’re being disseminated – email, text, social media or robocall – especially during natural disasters and emergency situations.

Never share personal information like your date of birth, social security number, contact information or financial account details with anyone online.

Bask Bank will never use any form of communication to ask for your password, but our Customer Support team might ask for personal information to verify your identity if you call with a question about your account. You can also use the Secure Message Center to send protected messages to our Customer Support team.

Installing antivirus software that will protect you against malware, spyware and Trojans that can steal your data and performing regular updates to your applications when prompted are great extra security measures when you’re online at home. Also, be sure to change your router’s login information from the default settings and turn off SSID broadcasting to hide your network from unauthorized users.

Phishing is a type of cybercrime where a bad actor attempts to trick a target – most commonly through an official-looking email – into providing personal information. The criminal then uses that personal information to commit fraud or theft.

Learn more about common fraudulent scams like phishing, romance scams, employment scams, mystery shopping and check-cashing scams and how to avoid becoming a victim.

This type of attack targets businesses or individuals that perform electronic payments, such as wire or automated clearing house (ACH) transfers. Email account compromise attacks occur when a scammer compromises a legitimate business’ or individual’s email account through intrusion techniques, ultimately resulting in an unauthorized transfer of funds.
 

To recognize an email compromise attack, be aware that scammers often communicate from an email address or URL you don’t recognize with a sense of urgency, last-minute changes to funding instructions and often with misspelled words or fragmented sentences. To avoid an email compromise attack, enable multi-factor authentication for all email accounts, never click on unsolicited links in emails or texts and use caution when downloading links and attachments.
 

If you think you or your business has been targeted by an email compromise attack, contact your financial institutions as soon as possible, report the fraudulent activity to your local law enforcement agency and file a complaint with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Scammers use a variety of methods to entice people to invest, including promising high returns with little to no risk, using pressure tactics to get people to act quickly, or impersonating legitimate investment professionals. Pig Butchering is a type of cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme that has recently made headlines. Click here to learn more.

With the increasing number of scams targeting banking customers, we’d like to take this opportunity to raise your awareness of some of these scams and red flags associated with them. Click here to learn more.

This month, take a moment to learn tips to Protect Yourself from Tax-Related Identity Theft.