Fraud Alerts

(9/1/2009) The local community received automated phone calls stating that their credit card had been compromised. Some of the calls identified themselves as representatives of Southern Lakes. The call requested the individual to press “1” to talk with a member service rep. If someone ended up following the instructions, they were requested to provide personal account information. This is a scam. Southern Lakes may contact you if there were concerns on our credit or debit cards. We would not, however, request account numbers or personal information. We already have that information. Review the Fraud Prevention Tips below to gain more information on what you should or should not do to protect yourself and your finances.

TIPS FOR FRAUD PREVENTION

1. If you receive a call, email or text message requesting personal or account information, do not give that information out. Legitimate financial institutions and other companies may contact you if there is an unusual pattern indicating that someone else might be using one of your accounts. They usually will only ask if you made specific transactions; they don’t request account numbers or personal information. Law enforcement agencies may also contact you if you’ve been a victim of fraud. To be on the safe side, get the person’s name, the agency's name, telephone number and address. Check these against the phone book, Internet or Directory Assistance to find out if the person is legitimate.
   
   
2. Watch out for Unsolicited Emails. They may be someone pretending to be a legitimate retailer, bank, organization or government agency. The sender asks you to “confirm” your personal information for a made up reason: your account is about to be closed, an order for something has been placed in your name or your information has been lost because of a computer problem. They may claim to be representing a firm such as the state lottery looking for your account information to deposit the winnings. Do not give any information out via email without verifying the legitimacy of the sender, the organization and the claim. Why would the California State Lottery contact you with winnings if you haven’t been to California or purchased a lottery ticket? If a long lost relative has indeed purchased that for you, they most likely find a way to get a hold of you personally.
   
   
3. Don’t click on links with in these emails that ask for your personal information. Fraudsters use these links that look just like the real site of actual companies to lure people into thinking the request is legitimate. If you follow the instructions, you will be giving all your information to the identity thieves. To check the legitimacy of a site, go to the company site by using a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or the like. You could also contact the company to find out if the request is legitimate.
   
   
4. Delete all unsolicited emails. When you do receive these, don’t click on “Unsubscribe Links”. Instead of removing you from the list, you are only confirming that you are receiving the emails and reading them. Just silently ignore them and delete.
   
   
5. Monitor your accounts frequently. Pay attention for unauthorized activity or suspicious transactions.
   
   
6. Shred all financial documents before disposing of them. Identity thieves will do any thing to get the information they need, even dig through garbage.
   
   
7. Remove the mail promptly from your mailbox. If you haven’t received a bill from a company in a timely manner, contact them. Don’t assume that the company just forgot to bill you.
   
   
8. Immediately report a lost or stolen card and any unauthorized activity on any account. The sooner you report these issues the sooner the problems can be handled. It will also help stop the issue from getting worse.
   
   
9. Act immediately if you’ve been a victim of one of these calls, emails or text messages. If you’ve given account information to someone, notify the companies you have those accounts with right away.

Finally, remember to be suspicious if someone contacts you unexpectedly asking for personal information. It’s hard to tell if someone is legitimate by looking at an email or website or talking with them on the phone. If you’re contacted out of the blue, it’s a warning sign that something is not right. Legitimate companies and agencies don’t operate that way.