Security Tips

Resources to Keep Cyber Criminals at Bay

You work hard for your income in order to provide a better life for yourself and your family. Unfortunately, there are those who work hard to take that all away from you. Criminals have all sorts of tactics to try and pry out information they can use to their advantage.

Our first priority is to help keep you and yours as safe as possible from these criminals. We have put together a hub of security information to help you prevent fraud and identity theft from happening to you.

Security Tips and Articles

We’ve collected a number of excellent resources that cover all aspects of financial security. Select any of the PDFs listed here to get informed about security best practices.

Check Washing Prevention

Check washing is a type of fraud where criminals steal mail that contains a check, use chemicals to remove the name of the payees and replace it with their own names. While checks are becoming less popular, criminals still can steal your money through checks that you write for legitimate businesses or people. Below are tactics to avoid becoming a victim of check washing.

Deposit checks promptly. Follow up with recipients who haven’t cashed the checks you issued them within a reasonable time frame.
Write in black ink only. Use permanent black gel pens to write a check. Black gel ink saturates the paper fibers of the check, making it more difficult to remove.
Pay to the order of a person or business. Make out checks to specific businesses and people, not to “cash.” Don’t leave blank space in the lines for payee or payment amount.
Secure checks. Store unused checks in a secure spot.
Never leave outgoing mail exposed. Don’t leave outgoing mail unattended in a business or residential mailbox. A public mailbox is better, but handing mail directly to a mail carrier or bringing it to the post office is best.
Schedule mail pickups. Businesses that have a lot of outgoing mail might find it’s more secure to have the postal worker come to pick up mail at a designated time. Getting to know your mail carrier and having an idea of when to expect them can help a customer more easily identify if a criminal is posing as a postal worker.
Bring delivered mail in daily. It’s not a good idea to let delivered mail sit in an unsecured mailbox overnight. If this isn’t possible, customers should consider renting a post office box where the mail is secure until they retrieve it. If they leave town, they can ask the postal service to hold the mail.
Take advantage of informed delivery. Use the postal service’s informed delivery function to ensure that the mail received is actually delivered.
Be prompt with unfamiliar charges. Encourage customers to contact you right away if they see an unfamiliar item on their monthly bank statement.
Dispose of deposited or canceled checks. After 30 days, shred or burn canceled checks, checks deposited through the mobile app, credit card statements, and bills.

Security and Fraud Prevention Videos

Identity Theft Prevention

Identity theft is a particular type of fraud that can not only affect your finances, but your life as whole. Recovering from identity theft is costly, takes time and can wear on you and your family. This makes preventing identity theft key.

In addition to the resources listed above, there are also a number of things you can do to prevent identity theft from happening to you.

Never carry your Social Security card or birth certificates with you unless absolutely necessary.
Shred any mail that has your name and sensitive information (account numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.) on it before recycling.
Keep your computer’s anti-virus and firewall software up-to-date.
Change passwords and PINs regularly.
Check your credit report. You can receive one free credit report from each of the three credit reporting bureaus every year to check and ensure there are no discrepancies. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com to order your annual copies.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, quick action is vital. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) identity theft recovery steps outline all the steps you need to take to minimize the damage and start putting your life back together.