Identity Theft occurs when your personal information is stolen and used without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes. This includes personal identifying information such as your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, user ID/passwords, PIN numbers or account numbers. Identity Theft is a federal crime.
Consumers victimized by Identity Theft can spend hundreds of dollars and hours cleaning up the damages thieves have made of their good name and credit record. They may also lose out on job opportunities, or be denied loans for education, housing, or car loans because of negative information on their credit reports. They could even be arrested for crimes they did not commit. The potential for damages, losses and emotional stress is quite considerable.
The term "Phishing" is likened to "fishing" for confidential information. It is a form of criminal activity designed to steal your valuable personal or financial information electronically through emails, fraudulent websites, social networking websites, instant message programs, cell phone or other mobile devices.
Oftentimes, Phishing scams rely on placing links in email messages, on web sites, or in instant messages that seem to come from a service that you trust, such as your bank. Phishing mail often includes official-looking logos and other identifying information directly from legitimate web sites, or it may include convincing details about your personal information found on a social networking site. The scam artist may place a link or pop-up window in the email that appears to go to the legitimate web site, but actually takes you to a phony scam site.
Typically, fraudulent emails appear to be coming from legitimate companies. They could warn you of an urgent problem with your account and trick you into clicking on a link that subsequently opens up your computer to hackers. The following are some phrases that are telltale signs of Phishing:
Pretext callers use different ploys to extract information. Callers can pretend to be customers, higher-level employees in the same bank, officials at other banks, government regulators or law enforcement officers. Their approaches can exude intimidation, helplessness and breathless emergency. They can appeal to bank employees' natural inclination to assist others or browbeat bank officials into complying with supposed official government business. Often, they call employee after employee at a bank until they find one they can manipulate.
Pretext calling was made illegal by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which requires bank regulators to make sure all financial institutions have policies and procedures in place to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of customer financial information and to deter and detect fraudulent access to such information.
In order to prevent fraud from resulting from Pretext Calling, banks often ask questions which can be answered only by the legitimate customers. This may include "out-of-pocket" questions, or identifiers that were collected from the customers at the time of account opening. We, at Bank of the Orient have developed these additional security measures when transacting business with customers for their own protection and for the protection of their assets at the bank.
If you are unsure about the authenticity of an email or a phone call from Bank of the Orient, or if you want to know why we have adapted new security procedures, please call our Customer Service Center at 1-800-881-2686. We will be happy to assist you with your needs.
M-F, 9:00am to 5:00pm (PT) Report Lost or Stolen Cards Call (800) 417-8715
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Your privacy is very important to us. We would like to advise you that Internet email is not secure. Please do not submit any information that you consider confidential. We recommend you do not include your social security or account number or other specific identifying information.
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