CONSUMER SAFETY TIP

Special Advisory: Bogus Company Emails & Bogus Prepaid Credit Card Offers

A very prevalent Email scam involves criminals posing as popular companies. The criminals use company names and logos within Emails so the recipient thinks it is a legitimate email. The consumers are given instructions within these emails to respond back with personal information. If the recipient responds back with the requested information, the criminals then steal the victims' identities.

Criminals even go as far as marketing bogus prepaid credit card programs and try to convince the victims into giving them account information. Once the criminals have the Bank account information, they make unauthorized automatic debits to the victims' accounts to pay for bogus "application and processing" fees. These charges can run as high as $159.00 per account. This amount, multiplied by thousands of victims, can equal a very large profit for the scammers.

Please keep your personal information "private". One of the valuable services that financial institutions provide is education on how to avoid becoming a victim, and what action to take once you become a victim. Please contact your financial institution with any questions.

This consumer safety tip advisory is presented by Dixon Foster, Security Officer at Bank of Lancaster.