First State Bank will never request that customers send personal information to us via email or pop-up windows. You should consider as fraudulent any request not initiated by you that you receive through emails, websites, or pop-up windows asking you for your First State Bank information. Call us to report it immediately without replying to the email.

Fraudulent emails (phishing)
Phishing is usually a two-part scam involving email and spoof websites. Fraudsters, also known as phishers, send email to a wide audience that appears to come from a reputable company. This is known as a phish email.

In the phish email, there are links to spoof websites that spoof or imitate a reputable company’s website. Fraudsters hope to convince victims to give up their personal information by using clever and compelling language, such as an urgent need for you to update your information immediately or a need to communicate with you for your own safety or security.

Once obtained, personal information can be used to steal money or transfer stolen money into another account.

How fraudsters obtain email addresses
Fraudsters obtain email addresses from many places on the Internet. They also purchase email lists and sometimes guess email addresses. Fraudsters generally have no idea if people to whom they send bank-related phish emails are actual bank customers. They hope a percentage of those phish emails will be received by actual bank customers.

If you receive a fraudulent email that appears to come from First State Bank, this does not mean that your email address, name, or any other personal information has been taken from First State Bank’s systems.

Fraudulent websites (phish or spoof websites)
Online fraudsters may attempt to direct you to fraudulent websites via email and pop-up windows. These websites are used to try to obtain your personal information. One way to detect a phony website is to consider how you got to the site. You may have followed a link in a fraudulent email requesting your account information. Therefore, you should not click on any links in suspicious emails or pop-up windows.

Pop-up windows
Fraudsters may use pop-up windows – small windows or ads – to obtain personal information. These windows may be generated by programs hidden in free downloads such as screen savers or music-sharing software. While many of these programs are harmless, some contain potentially harmful Trojan horse programs or programs that monitor your web viewing activity.

Links to useful privacy and security informational and reporting sites