IDENTITY THEFT AND FRAUD PREVENTION LIBRARY

• Look for urgent or threatening language.
• Watch for spelling and grammatical mistakes.
• Never trust links or attachments you didn’t ask for.

• Be wary of anyone demanding payment in gift cards or wire transfers.
• Remember, Country Bank and government agencies like the IRS will never call you to ask for confidential information.
• Hang up if you feel pressured. Call back using an official number or call us instead.

• Only send money to people you know and trust.
• Treat a payment app like cash—transactions are often instant and irreversible.
• Beware of “accidental” payments from strangers who ask you to send money back.

Corporate Account Takeover is a type of business identity theft in which a criminal entity steals a business’s valid online banking credentials. Small to mid-sized businesses remain the primary target of criminals, but any business can fall victim to these crimes. Attacks today are typically perpetrated quietly by the introduction of malware through a simple email or infected website.

The Bank’s ability to protect you is severely undermined when your online credentials are compromised by a data breach initiated within your computer system. Once your computer is compromised, any action you can take from your online banking, a criminal will attempt to do fraudulently. For example: Bill Pay, ACH Transfers, Wires, copies of checks and signatures, etc. Any possible way to financially defraud you will not be overlooked by smart criminals with the intent to steal your money or personal information.

Hackers often take aim at small business’ computers because they are easier to infiltrate than banks’ systems.

• An infected document attached to an email
• A link within an email that connects to an infected website
• Employees visiting legitimate websites (especially social networking sites) and clicking on the infected documents, videos, or photos posted there
• An employee using a flash drive that was infected by another computer

Once the employee opens the attachment or goes to the website, malware is installed on the computer. In each case, fraudsters exploit the infected system to obtain security credentials that they can use to access a company’s business accounts. Once embedded, it can even seek out others within the network to gain secondary access or credentials. While up-to-date antivirus software offers substantial protection against malware, it isn’t 100% effective. According to the FBI, there is no single deterrent that is 100% effective against fraud, viruses, and malware.

Within minutes you can receive:

• 24/7 Credit Monitoring
• Credit Reporting
• Credit Score & Tracking
• Dark Web Monitoring
• Lost Wallet Protection
• Identity Restoration