1st Bank Phishing Scam Alert
Fraudulent e-mails try to trick people into giving bank account information
by Pinedale Online!
April 7, 2009
1st Bank in Pinedale is cautioning citizens of another e-mail "phishing" scam.
Phishing (pronounced "fishing") is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information, such as user names, passwords, bank account and credit card details though a contact pretending to be a trustworthy entity such as your bank. The scam contact gives some pretext or urgency asking the recipient to give their personal or account or log-in information. In this case the contact is by e-mail and includes a link to a webpage that has been made to look like the bank’s official site, when in reality they are actually on the scammer’s website.
In this latest incident, some citizens have reported receiving an e-mail claiming to be from 1st Bank. The text of the message says, "You have 1 new ALERT message. Please login to your 1st Bank Online Login and visit the Message Center section in order to read the message. To Login, please click the link below: 1st Bank Online Banking, Copyright 2009 1st Bank".
Melissa Flanagan, with Operations at 1st Bank in Pinedale, sent out this media release to get the word out to the community:
"Once again we are getting hit with a phishing scam, via e-mail this time. People in the area are getting e-mails whether or not they bank with us. The e-mail instructs them that they have an alert message from 1st Bank and to please follow the link. The link does takes them to a website that is a replica of ours. As soon as they try to log in, a screen appears that asks them to enter their debit card information. Please inform the community that this is not coming from 1st Bank and we will never contact them via e-mail. If they did receive the e-mail and did put in their identification log-in and password, to please contact us immediately so we can eliminate any fraudulent activity on their account."
1st Bank President Jeff Patterson added that if customers receive this phishing e-mail, they should immediately delete it.
For more information, contact 1st Bank in Pinedale at 307-367-3350, toll-free 1-800-515-9072. 1st Bank is located at 221 East Pine Street in Pinedale.
In March, the area was hit with a round of bogus phone calls and text messages in an earlier phishing scam. Click on this link for that story: Con artists targeting Pinedale bank customers for debit card info (March 6, 2009, Pinedale Online!)
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