Privacy & Security | Identity Theft

What Is Identity Theft?

You’ve probably heard about it in the news. Your personal information is stolen and used to make unauthorized financial transactions from your checking, savings or credit card accounts, or it is used to obtain false credit. Information obtained by thieves may be as obvious as your name, address and date of birth, or as personal as your social security number or mother’s maiden name.

Liberty Bank employees will never ask you for your Online Banking password.  In addition, Liberty Bank will never request that you send email containing your personal or financial information.

Liberty Bank wants to help you to protect yourself against online scams.  Email fraud is a common and damaging method used to scam consumers.   Fraudulent email scams are described below:

  • Phishing:  Phishing schemes use forged emails claiming to be from someone that you know and trust (like your Bank or the FDIC).  They attempt to get you to reveal sensitive information like user ID’s , passwords, debit card numbers, account numbers, social security numbers, etc.  This information can then be used to access your accounts, finances, and your identity.
  • Spoofing:  Most forged emails ask you to supply, confirm, or update personal information by directing you to click on a link in the body of the email text.  The link will connect you to a web page or login page that appears identical to the actual website’s.  This is referred to as a “spoofed” site.  The site will appear to belong to the company but in fact is totally unrelated and is being used to collect your information!

What are email scams such as "Phishing"?

"Phishing" is a scam that uses fraudulent emails with “urgent” (but false) messages and even websites to obtain personal financial information.  In a typical case you would receive an email requesting personal or financial information; the email would appear to originate form a trusted entity, would have emphasis on the urgency to respond, and contain a threat of terrible consequences if you didn’t respond immediately by providing the requested information or clicking the link provided.   By posing as trusted brands of well-known banks, online retailers and credit card companies, "phishers" are able to convince recipients to respond to them and to provide personal and financial information. 

How to avoid "Phishing" scams:

  • Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information.  (Remember, Liberty Bank will never ask you for that information— we already have it on file.)  Do not be intimidated by an email that suggests dire consequences and DO NOT respond to the email or click the link provided.
  • Don't use links provided in an email.  If you suspect the message might be authentic, call the company or log onto the website directly by typing in the web address in your browser.
  • Be cautious about opening any attachments or downloading any files from emails.
  • Regularly log on to your online accounts and review your transaction history to ensure only legitimate transactions have occurred.
  • Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches are applied. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, visit www.microsoft.com/security to download special patches related to "phishing" scams.

What is "Spoofing"?

Spoofing is the use of a website or email that appears to come from a well known company but is phony.  For example, an Online Banking customer, who routinely logs in to an online banking website, may be redirected to an illegitimate web page instead of accessing his or her bank’s website.  These spoofed websites are then used to obtained password/PIN, credit card information, ATM/Debit information, social security number, Bank account information.

Spoofed websites are utilized in many ways:

  • Static domain name spoofing: The "pharmer" (the person or entity committing the fraud) attempts to take advantage of slight misspellings in domain names to trick users into inadvertently visiting the pharmer’s web site. For example, a pharmer may redirect a user to anybnk.com instead of anybank.com which is the site the user intended to access.
  • Malicious software (Malware): Viruses and "Trojans" (latent malicious code or devices that secretly capture data) on a consumer's personal computer may intercept the user's request to visit a particular site, such as anybank.com, and redirect the user to the site that the pharmer has set up.
  • Phishing emails often contain links to spoofed websites (see “Phishing Section”).
  • Domain Name Servers (DNS) poisoning: The most dangerous instance of pharming may be DNS poisoning. Domain name servers are similar to Internet road map guides. When an individual enters www.anybank.com into his or her browser, DNS on the Internet translate the phrase anybank.com into an Internet protocol (IP) address, which provides routing directions. After the DNS server provides this address information, the user's connection request is routed to anybank.com. Local DNS servers can be "poisoned" to send users to a website other than the one that was requested. This poisoning can occur as a result of misconfiguration, network vulnerabilities or Malware installed on the server.

Although there’s no fool proof way to spot a spoof email or website, these signs should arouse your suspicion:

  • Sense of Urgency – emails containing statements that imply that your account will be closed if you don’t respond.
  • Emails that contain embedded links – even if the name includes all or part of a real company name.
  • Obvious Spelling Errors – errors are made to help the spoof email avoid the spam filters.
  • If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply.  Don’t click the link in the message either.  Open a new internet browser session and type in the company’s correct web address yourself.  Don’t cut and paste the link from the message into your Internet browser-legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email.

How to protect yourself from Financial Fraud and Identity Theft:

  • Never provide your personal information in response to an unsolicited request.
  • Never write or give your ATM/Debit card Personal Identification Number (PIN) to anyone.  Never give your online banking password to anyone.
  • Never give out personal information such as your checking or savings account number, credit card number or social security number, through the mail, telephone or Internet, unless you have initiated the contact and you are certain that the company is reputable.
  • Never click on the link provided in an email. 
  • Report to the bank any lost or stolen ATM/Debit Card or lost or stolen personal checks.
  • Balance your checking or savings account statement every month and report any unauthorized transactions to the bank immediately.
  • Regularly review credit card statements to check for unauthorized charges.
  • Shred your charge receipts, credit card applications, insurance forms, old checks, bank statements, anything that contains any of your personal identification.

If you’re a victim of Identity Theft:

  • Call the ID Theft Clearinghouse toll free at 1-877-438-4338 to report the theft.
  • Place a Fraud Alert on your file at all three agencies.
  • Contact the fraud departments of each of the credit agencies:
  • Contact Liberty Bank at (888) 570-0773 and your credit card companies immediately to stop access to your accounts.
  • Stop payment on fraudulent transactions or stolen checks.
  • File a police report with your local police department or the police in the community in which the identity theft occurred.
  • Report all suspicious contacts to the Federal Trade Commission; www.consumer.gov/idtheft or 1-877-IDTHEFT

For More Information

You can learn more about this important issue at the US Government's central website. And if we can help you in any way with this important issue, please contact us at (888) 570-0773.

What is Liberty Bank doing to help protect you?

  • Domain name management: Liberty Bank diligently manages domain names by ensuring that the names used are renewed in a timely manner.
  • DNS poisoning: Liberty Bank monitors its website activity closely to ensure that should a DNS poisoning attack occur, it is addressed promptly. For example, if Liberty Bank's domain was hijacked, it would immediately stop receiving normal Internet-related requests. The drop in Internet traffic would alert technology staff at Liberty Bank to the problem, which the staff would then investigate.
  • Consumer education: Liberty Bank recommends that all Online Banking customers install current versions of virus detection software, firewalls and spyware scanning tools to reduce computer infections. Regularly updating these tools to combat new threats is very important. Internet providers (i.e. SBC, Cox, AOL) provide information on how to access and download this software to your personal computer.