Fraud Awareness

Please review the following important information that can help you protect yourself from personal information scams and help protect your privacy.

Gold Bank values the safety and security of our customers, your accounts and identities. We want to help you take precautions that will protect you. Education and awareness is the most important step. Consider the following as you take steps to protect you and your personal information online.

There are many types of online fraud. Emailed attempts to compromise personal information are called "phishing" scams. This popular type of fraud appears to be from a trusted source, like a financial institution, and asks for banking logins, passwords, or other personal information. In a phishing attack, scammers send millions of email messages that appear to come from popular websites that you trust, like your bank or credit card company. The email messages, pop-up windows, and the websites they link to are designed to look similar enough to the real websites that they trick people into believing that they are legitimate. Victims who are deceived by these sites will unwittingly provide their credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal data.

Phishing email messages are designed to look legitimate, often including actual logos or graphics from financial institutions. Phishers may place a link in the email that appears to go to a legitimate website, but it will actually take you to a phony scam site with a similar URL or IP address or possibly a pop-up window that looks exactly like the official site. These copycat sites are also called "spoofed" websites.

Besides phishing attacks, you should be aware of other online threats, such as spyware. "Spyware" loads malicious software programs onto your computer without your knowledge via email attachments, internet downloads, messenger chats, or file sharing. These programs, also known as "Trojans" or "keyloggers," are designed to capture your logins, passwords, or other personal data as you log into authorized websites. Or they will present a fake web page when you type in the real website address of a site you want to visit to trick you into providing confidential information. Scammers are also making attempts to break the card verification value/card verification code (CVV/CVC), the 3-digit security code on the back of your card, and use emails to transport malicious software to obtain personal information. This attempt to commit fraud is commonly known as a "brute force attack."

Please contact us if you ever find yourself on the receiving end of a fraudulent email. We will take action immediately.