Customer Education Resources
Here at McCurtain County National Bank, we value you and your safety. Scammers are getting creative in different ways to STEAL YOUR MONEY. Although we can’t be 100% safeguarded, there are many preventative measures we can take to reduce the risk of becoming a victim to these schemes. Let us help you by informing you of a few things to look out for.
Common Frauds & Scams
Charity Scams: These scams are commonly seen during the holidays, as well as during times of natural disasters and emergencies. They pose as a charitable organization to get money from you.
What do you do? Do NOT provide any personal and/or financial information. Make sure who you are speaking with is, in fact, a TRUE charity. You can do this by researching the charitable organization on a trusted source or website.
Debt Collection Scams: This is a risky one. These scammers will contact you on legitimate debts you could owe on and try to collect payment on it.
What do you do? Do NOT provide any personal and/or financial information. Verify the debt – contact the debtor directly.
Imposter Scams: These scammers will pretend to be someone you know and ask for money, either through social media, over the phone, or through emails. The people they impersonate may be someone you know personally, to even a public figure such as a police officer, federal government employee, etc.
What do you do? Do NOT provide any personal and/or financial information. If it is someone you know personally, discontinue communication and contact them directly yourself. Remember, CALLER I.D. CAN BE FAKED. If it is a public figure “representing” a trusted agency, discontinue communication and contact said agency, directly, to verify. If it is through email, look out for spelling/grammar discrepancies. Check the email address it is coming from.
Lottery/Prize Scams: A lot of these scams will appear too good to be true. These scammers will contact you to tell you that you’ve won something.
What do you do? Do NOT provide any personal and/or financial information, especially when you know that you haven’t entered into anything. Even if you did, there are direct platforms to check if you’ve won.
Romance Scams: These schemes start in a variety of ways, but are most commonly seen online. These scammers really put in the effort to swoon you. Some may even have a sad story or is going through a “life crisis” to pity you through giving them money.
What do you do? Do NOT provide any personal and/or financial information. Be smart about who you connect with.
As mentioned, these are just a few techniques these scammers use to gain access to sensitive information and their PAYDAY. Now that we know some common tricks, let’s talk about protection.
Protecting Yourself Online
- Invest in a good security software that is best at defenses against viruses, malware, and other online threats.
- Keep your computers and mobile devices up to date. Turn on automatic updates so you can receive the newest fixes as they come available.
- Use strong passwords with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Do not set passwords with names of someone you know or something dear to you.
- Do not have the same passwords for everything.
- Change your passwords often.
- Do not save your username and passwords on your computer or mobile device. This would mean to also avoid using automatic login features.
- Do not save a list of your usernames and passwords on your computer or mobile device.
- Only open email attachments from trusted sources.
- Always sign out of any online network you are on.
- Do not save any personal, financial, and banking information on your computer or mobile device.
- Do not save any credit/debit card information on checkout sites or online accounts. This goes same for not saving any bank account information on any online accounts.
- Only shop from trusted and secure online sites.
- Do not grant remote access to your computer.
- Be cautious of unsolicited email.
Should you fall a victim to these fraudulent scams, these helpful links below will walk you through the necessary steps to take.
