Phishing is a con used by high-tech criminals to facilitate one of America’s leading forms of fraud – identity theft. Basically, the scam uses unsolicited email (spam) to bait consumers into disclosing sensitive personal information such as social security numbers, account and routing numbers, credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, passwords, and other private data.
Be cautious of e-mails asking you for personal information. “Phishing” e-mails send users to phony websites where they are asked to update personal information such as social security, account numbers, passwords, credit card numbers, etc. Salem Co-operative Bank will never ask you to provide this information via e-mail.
Contact Us immediately if you suspect that you have fallen victim to “phishing” by providing private financial information to these scammers. You should also contact the major credit bureaus and let them know that your personal financial information may have been compromised. The three major credit bureaus are:
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
Experian: 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289
If you would like to receive our pamphlet on Phishing, please Contact Us or pick one up at one of our branch offices.