Security & Fraud Prevention

Fraud Alerts

Thumb National Bank has become aware that several customers have received calls from a party purporting to be from the bank investigating a fraudulent transaction.

The party is requesting debit card and PIN number information.

Please be advised that Thumb National Bank's Fraud Protection department will NEVER ask for your debit card number or PIN information.

These contacts are attempts to gather information to create fraudulent transactions in an effort to steal deposit account funds. If you have been contacted by anyone claiming to be from Thumb National Bank or one of our service providers, contact the Pigeon office of Thumb National Bank at 989-453-3113 to discuss possible risk associated with the contact.

Fraudulent Debit Card Transactions

If you have been contacted by our fraud prevention department or have fraudulent debit card activity on your account please call the bank immediately.

During regular business hours please call 1-866-TNB-3113.

After hours, please call 1-800-262-2024.

Please be advised that Thumb National Bank does have a debit card fraud prevention service that is a computer voice response unit. This service is designed to call customers whenever there is a question of potentially fraudulent activity on a particular card.

 

Lost or Stolen VISA Credit Cards

.If your VISA Credit card has been lost or stolen please call us immediately. During regular business hours please call 1-866-TNB-3113.

After hours, please call 1-800-588-3434.

Lost or Stolen MasterCard Debit Cards

If your MasterCard Debit card has been lost or stolen please call us immediately. During regular business hours please call 1-866-TNB-3113.

After hours, please call 1-800-554-8969.

ATM Scams

Thumb National has learned of a scam in the Las Vegas area where cardholders willingly shared magnetic stripes and PIN data with a criminal.

As many as 500 cardholders may have been scammed in a single day. A fictitious company, Free Tell, hired a legitimate survey company to randomly survey patrons of a mall near the main strip of Las Vegas.

A Free Tell representative was sent to the mall to set up a "dummy" ATM machine and show interviewers how to use it. Interviewers were instructed to have participants swipe ATM cards and enter PIN's. Those surveyed were asked to perform various transactions - balance inquiries, withdrawals, and transfers - and view an advertising video. Free Tell indicated that the purpose of the survey was to determine whether customers would prefer to pay an ATM surcharge or see advertisements during their transactions. A questionnaire was given to participants about the advertisements. Participants were asked to enter their PIN's twice, but legitimate transactions were not completed, as the ATM was not linked to a processor. Each person who took part in the survey was offered $5.00 for his or her time. Shortly after the survey was completed, captured information appears to have been used to withdraw funds fraudulently from survey participants' accounts.

Thumb National is reminding you of the importance of protecting your ATM card information and PIN's in even the most innocent-seeming situations, whether you are being asked by surveyors, telemarketers, or even people you know. The only time you should share such information is when you are sure you are communicating with a legitimate representative of Thumb National, and PIN's should never be shared.

If you would like further information on safety tips for your ATM or MasterMoney card, please contact your nearest branch office.

Online Security Tips

You can help protect yourself against online fraud and identity theft by following these guidelines:

Email

• Be alert for scam emails. They may appear to come from a trusted business or friend but are actually designed to trick you into downloading a virus or jumping to a fraudulent web site to disclose sensitive or personal information.
• Do not reply to any email that requests your personal information. Be very suspicious of any email from a business or person that asks for highly sensitive or personal information.
• Never send personal information via email. Regular emails are not encrypted.
• If an email contains an attachment, do not open it.
• Be cautious when clicking on a link in an email as it may not be trustworthy. To check the ownership of the destination page, open a browser and manually type in the URL provided in the email. If you click on the link, make sure the Web address appearing in your browser after clicking on the link is related to the email sender.
• Stay informed.

Online Security

• If you suspect the site is not what it claims to be, leave it immediately. Do not follow any of the instructions it presents.
• Only do business with the companies you know and trust.
• Be aware! Phony "look-alike" web sites are designed to trick consumers and collect their personal information. Make sure the sites you transact business on post their privacy and security statements, and review them carefully.
• Do not provide sensitive personal or financial information unless it is encrypted on a secure web site, and you have initiated the transaction.
• Make sure the web site is certified with a digital security certificate. To view, click on the closed lock or solid key image located in the bottom bar of your browser window. A small frame with site security information will appear. Click the word 'Subject' for Internet Explorer to verify you are on the correct Web site, and make sure the registered owner matches the site. To verify the site certification authority, click the 'Issuer' tab. For Netscape, click on "View Certificate" to view subject and issuer details.
• Choose passwords or Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) that are difficult for others to guess, and use a different password for each of your Internet accounts, and change them frequently. Use both letters and numbers and a combination of lower and upper case letters if the passwords are case sensitive.