Consumer Protection

No Phishing Allowed

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, phishing is a method used by Internet fraudsters to lure personal information including credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information from unsuspecting victims. Typically this takes the form of an email or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message may ask you to “update,” “validate,” or “confirm” your account information. You should never reply or click on a link in this type of message, nor should you ever send personal information about yourself via email. To find out more about how to protect yourself from these scams, visit http://www.treas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/financial-institution/cip/pdf/phishingalrt.pdf

Know Your Credit

According to the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Thrift Supervision Director John Reich, “Knowing your credit score and the contents of your credit report is extremely important. Careful credit report monitoring not only helps consumers obtain credit at rates commensurate with their credit history, it also helps to guard against identity theft.”

By law, consumers can obtain a copy of their credit report free of charge from each of the three credit reporting bureaus once a year. By staggering your requests, you can actually obtain a free report every four months to stay as up-to-date as possible with your credit report. Visit the FTC-sponsored Web site, www.annualcreditreport.com to obtain your free reports or http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.htm to find out how to dispute a credit report error.

Fighting Back Against Identity Theft

Find out how to minimize your risk, identify suspicious behavior and take action immediately to protect against identity theft at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/

View FDIC’s Consumer Alerts http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/alerts/index.html