Criminals are hard at work every day looking for new and creative ways to steal your identity, infect your computer or mobile device or compromise your debit card. We wanted to share a list of best practices to help you protect your personal and financial information and to keep yourself safer from the risk of fraud, theft and scams.
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Simple Steps to Protect Yourself
- Check your account activity frequently for earlier fraud detection. In Online and Mobile Banking, you can set up Alerts to be informed about your balances or login attempts. To set up Alerts, log in to your Online Banking account, go to Settings, and select Alerts. Alerts can be sent via text message, phone call, email or secure message
- Don’t respond to unsolicited requests for personal information over the phone, online or by mail. The First National Bank will never initiate a phone call or email asking you for personal information such as your PIN, password, or account number
- Check your credit report at least once each year, and more often if you suspect your personal information has been compromised. You can get a free credit report every 12 months from each credit reporting agency. And since you don’t have to receive all three reports at the same time, you can get a free report every four months by staggering them. Get your free credit report from Annual Credit Report or Free Credit Report
- Avoid using any computer or phone that is not yours to access your accounts
- Shred unwanted financial documents, credit card offers, receipts, etc. Destroy (don’t just shred) unwanted or obsolete credit cards. You can shed some of the unnecessary clutter and documents by switching to electronic statements
- Stay informed of any alerts or updates from us by checking our website, Facebook page or the Alerts page
Online and Mobile Banking Safety
- Choose strong passwords and change them routinely. The best passwords are a collection of numbers, letters and symbols that are seemingly random
- Do not use the same password for everything. There are free password manager apps to help you keep track of all of your passwords
- Do not give your password to anyone for any reason. The First National Bank will never ask you for your password, PIN or account number
- It is recommended you have a lock on your mobile device. Have your device configured to auto-lock after a short period of inactivity
- Avoid connecting your mobile devices to a wireless network at a public "hot-spot"
- In Online and Mobile Banking, you can set up Alerts to be informed about your balances or login attempts. To set up Alerts, log in to your Online Banking account, go to Settings, and select Alerts. Alerts can be sent via text message, phone call, email or secure message
- Install the Shazam Bolt$ app to be notified of any transactions over a certain amount performed using your debit card. You can read more about the Shazam Bolt$ app here
- Only install apps from trusted, verified sources like Apple iTunes or the Google Play Store
- Pay close attention to the permissions you are granting the application when it is installed
- Avoid using automatic login features that save username and passwords for Online or Mobile banking
- If you lose your phone, contact your service provider immediately. As a precaution, we suggest changing your Online banking password. We can also disable your username for Online banking until you get things sorted out. Also know that our mobile app DOES NOT store any personal or financial information on your device
Computer, Internet Browsing and Email Safety
- Keep a clean and updated computer and mobile device. Installing the latest security updates for your computer and mobile devices operating system, browser, software and apps is one major way to prevent unauthorized access.Install an anti-virus and anti-spyware program. Keep both updated regularly and schedule daily scans. Consider installing an anti-virus and anti-spyware solution for your mobile devices as well
- Be extremely cautious of any emails from an unrecognized sender. Avoid clinking on any links or opening any attachments as these are two of the most common ways to infect your computer or mobile device
- Don't respond to emails that request your personal information. Most legitimate and reputable companies will never ask for confidential or sensitive information via email. The First National Bank will never initiate an email asking you for your password, PIN or account number
- Be cautious of any email or message claiming you've won a prize, especially if you are asked to enter personal or financial information in order to claim your prize. If it sounds to good to be true - it probably is
- If you do open a letter or email asking you to advance fees or bank account information to claim a large sum of money, DO NOT REPLY. This is a common scam that many refer to as a Nigerian scam. Contact your local authorities, FBI office or the U.S. Postal Inspection Service
- When you do submit sensitive personal information online, make sure you are using a secure website. The address of the website should begin with "https://". There should also be a "padlock" image in either the browser's address or status bar. It may vary depending on which browser you are using
- When making purchases online, consider using a third-party processor such as PayPal. This way you enter in your account or debit card information only once through PayPal's site instead on multiple sites
- Secure and lock-down your WiFi network at home by requiring a password to connect, changing the default admin password and network name and disable broadcasting. If they don't know it's there, then they can't connect
- Never log into Online Banking or enter in any personal or financial information through public accessible computers like the ones found in coffee shops or libraries
Resources Available To You
We provide a multitude of free services to assist you in preventing fraud and staying on top of your accounts. We highly urge all of our account holders to take advantage of these free services in order to protect their personal and financial information. Here is a list of free services we offer to aide our customers in combating fraudulent transactions:
- Online and Mobile banking: Check your account as often as you like to confirm and validate transactions in real time
- Bill Pay: Securely pay bills through our bill pay system. Reduce your risk of potential identity theft and fraud from misplaced mail by receiving eBills
- Account Alerts: Online and Mobile banking users have the ability to setup account alerts to be notified about account balances, transactions or any updates or changes to your account such as a failed login attempt or password change. Alerts can be sent via text message, phone call, email or secure message
- Shazam BOLT$: Download the BOLT$ app to get another layer of monitoring and security. Shazam BOLT$ provides the following capabilities and features:
- Receive alerts for:
- Purchases exceeding defined thresholds
- "Card-Not-Present" purchases. (Online or phone purchases)
- Suspicious or high risk transactions
- Put a temporary block on your card if you misplace or suspect your card has been stolen
- Receive alerts for:
- E-Statements: Online and Mobile banking users have the option to enroll for e-statements. E-statements are much more secure than paper statements as it reduces the risk of potential identity theft and fraud from misplaced mail. E-statements are made available through online and mobile banking and are never attached to an actual email message. We just send you a friendly email letting you know that your statement is available through online and mobile banking
- If you think or suspect your debit card or account has been compromised, please call us immediately at 337-276-3692. Please call 1-800-383-8000 during hours when the bank is closed to report a lost, stolen or compromised debit card
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Please Note: All information on our security center resource pages is provided as a convenience to customers and non-customers alike.