First Service Bank wants to help you to protect yourself against online schemes. Email fraud is one of the more common and damaging methods used to scam customers on the Internet today.

Phishing is an electronic scam that attempts to obtain confidential personal or financial information from its target.  It takes the form of a fake message, usually an email, which appears to be from a financial institution or service provider. The message usually includes the company name, logo and a link to a website which instructs you to update your account information by providing your Social Security number, bank account number, PIN, password, date of birth, etc. with a dire warning if action isn't taken. A phisher can then use your personal information to commit fraud or steal your identity.

Email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. First Service Bank will never request your personal or financial information via email.  There may be times when the bank may request personal or financial information from you via telephone or mail to complete information for your file or records.  In cases of telephone requests, you may simply decide to call the bank back yourself by using the number printed on your statement prior to giving out the information.

For more information, see How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam, a publication from OnGaurd Online - http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/phishing.aspx.