It’s a bad day for you when a criminal is able to withdraw money from your checking account. It’s a super bad day for the bank.

When we realize there’s been a compromise to any single account, we stop everything else to get to the root cause.  That cause helps determine next steps. 

Do we need to lock down an account? What do we need to tell our employees so they can serve customers yet be on the lookout for yet another scam? Do we need to engage law enforcement?”

We recently learned from customers that they’d been contacted by INB’s fraud department about fraud on their accounts.  The customers were asked to change their user names and passwords and share them with the caller.

Unfortunately, our fraud department wasn’t on the other end of the line. The INB phone number was spoofed so it looked like the call was from our main line. This fraud, called vishing, has seen an uptick with all financial institutions as well as with many big-name companies from telephone providers to on-line retailers.

Customers Knew What to Do

When INB was targeted by spoofers, we were fortunate enough to have some customers who realized they were being asked for information the bank would never ask for. These customers did the right thing: they hung up and called us. 

We were quickly able to identify accounts with fraudulent activity. With the right credentials (user name, password and duo factor authentication codes), the fraudsters were able to make person-to-person payments from a customer’s checking account to their own bank account. In some cases, this money is not recoverable, and customers may be out the money since they shared the information with the fraudsters.

To help assure your account is never compromised, PLEASE remember we will never call and request any of the following information:

• Mother's maiden name or other security question answers
• Date of birth
• Social Security number
• Account/Card number
• Username
• Password
• One-time passcodes/links

Other Types of Fraud

While digital banking tools were used in these instances, there’s still plenty of fraud happening the old-fashioned way . . . through fraudulent checks. So, this is a reminder to keep your blank checking account checks and home equity line checks in safekeeping.