On October 27, 2009, the FDIC and local fraud prevention agencies announced two serious fraud schemes currently taking place in southeastern Wisconsin. In fact, some Park Bank customers have reported receiving the phone scam on their cell phone. We would like to inform you of these recent developments and provide you with tips to safeguard your confidential information from criminals.

Telephone Scam:
The first case involves telephone calls that are being made to a local bank’s customers, informing them that fraud has been reported on their debit card and that their debit card is being cancelled. These customers are being asked to press “1” on their telephone and to provide their card number and other pertinent information. Providing this information would allow the fraudsters to gain instant use of the customer’s debit card to initiate transactions, whereby withdrawing funds from the customer’s account. Consumers have stated that the Caller ID displayed “unknown” and calls were received on both land lines and cell phones. A similar scam operated locally last year; many innocent consumers in the Milwaukee area lost large amounts of money.

Fraudsters like these pose as representatives of a bank or government agency and are very good at what they do. Legitimate companies won't call or email you asking for your account number or password. If you are concerned about your account, call the number on your financial statements or on the back of your credit/debit card. Don't assume that you can trust Caller ID to let you know where a caller is located. Because scammers use Internet calling technology, the area code you see may not reflect where they really are.

Never respond to these requests nor provide confidential information over the phone. Once they have your personal information, such as social security number, bank and credit card numbers, or driver license number, they can use it to commit identity theft by making purchases on your existing credit cards, opening new credit card, checking or savings accounts, writing fraudulent checks, or taking out loans in your name.

If you receive this type of request, ask for the name of the caller, the institution represented and contact information. Contact the institution or business being represented using the contact information provided to verify the request. If the request is not legitimate, report the incident to the police and to the misrepresented company.

Email (Phishing) Scam:
Emails that appear to be sent from the FDIC are asking recipients to download and open a "personal FDIC insurance file" to check their deposit insurance coverage. These emails are fraudulent and were not sent by the FDIC. The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the emails and disrupt the transmission.

Currently, the subject line of the fraudulent emails includes the wording "check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage." The emails state: "You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets."

The emails ask recipients to "visit the official FDIC website" by clicking on a hyperlink provided, which appears to be related to the FDIC and directs recipients to a fraudulent Web site. The Web site includes hyperlinks that appear to open forms. It is believed that clicking on the hyperlinks will cause an unknown executable file to be downloaded, suspected to be a malicious attempt to collect personal or confidential information to gain unauthorized access to online banking services or to conduct identity theft. Do NOT access the Web site or download the executable files.

Typical phishing scams involve email or pop-up messages that claim to be from a business or organization you may deal with – say, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency, like the FDIC in this case. The message may ask you to "update," "validate," or "confirm" your account information or face dire consequences. The message typically directs you to a Web site that looks like a legitimate organization’s site. These sites try to trick you into divulging your personal information so the fraudsters can steal it, fake your identity and run up bills in your name.

Make it a policy to never respond to emails or pop-ups that ask for personal or financial information, click on links in the message, or call phone numbers given in the message. Don't cut and paste a link from the message into your Web browser; fraudsters can make links look like they go one place, but then actually take you to a look-alike site. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization using a phone number you know to be genuine, or open a new Internet browser session and type in the company's correct Web address yourself. Using anti-virus and anti-spyware software and a firewall, and keeping them up to date, can help. Forward phishing emails to spam@uce.gov and to the organization that is being misrepresented. The FDIC also has a Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Division and request that any suspected fraud schemes be reported to the FDIC's Cyber-Fraud and Financial Crimes Section, 550 17th Street, N.W., Room F-3054, Washington, D.C. 20429, or to alert@fdic.gov.

Safeguard Yourself Against Identity Theft:
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