What is social engineering? 

CSO Magazine defines Social Engineering:

“Social engineering is essentially the art of gaining access to buildings, systems or data by exploiting human psychology, rather than by breaking in or using technical hacking techniques. For example, instead of trying to find a software vulnerability, a social engineer might call an employee and pose as an information technology (IT) support person, trying to trick the employee into divulging his password.”
– CSO November 2011

Social Engineering can take on many forms and fraudsters can be very successful using this method since it is very low tech and costs very little (if any) money to do. When it comes to banking online, it's even more important to understand the risks and how to keep your information safe and secure.

Here are some common methods of social engineering: 

• Posing as a bank employee and calling you to trick you into divulging your personal financial information.
• Posing as a relative calling you to say that your nephew, cousin, aunt, etc. has been stranded in Europe and needs money wired to them in order to get back home.
• Facebook or Twitter scams such as free gift cards, phony charities, “watch this amazing video” are all used to trick people into again divulging private information to steal identities.

Protect yourself from social engineering:

• MutualBank will not call or email you asking for personal, financial, or username and password information.
• If you are suspect of a call you’ve received, insist on calling back with the published phone number of MutualBank or in the case of a relative the number that is known to you.
• If it’s too good to be true…it probably is. Be very leery of extremely cheap or free products / services advertised on Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites.

At MutualBank, we strive to keep you educated of new scams or frauds.  For more information about protecting yourself visit our Alerts and Security information.  
Visit our Alerts anytime at bankwithmutual.com and click on "Alerts and Security". 

MutualBank customers can always call 800-382-8031 to report any instances of fraud or suspicious calls. Together we're working with you to keep your information safe.

You’ve made it through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holiday gift exchanges, holiday dinners, family gatherings, post-holiday sales, gift returns, refunds, exchanges and you ask yourself now what?  Well, there’s no doubt that during all of the holiday festivities that you have most likely used your MutualBank debit cards, credit cards, and checks.

You’ve probably used your MutualBank financial tools more over the last several weeks than the previous couple of months put together.  This means unfortunately there are more opportunities for fraud to occur during the holiday season.  Fraudsters and hackers are always attempting to get bank account information, especially during the holidays. One of the most important resources MutualBank has are our customers. That's why you will see us continue in the fight to protect consumers against fraud. 

You are part of our front line defense against consumer financial fraud.  Our job is to make sure that our customers, like you, are informed to protect their financial assets against fraud.  A simple first step is to make sure that you know your spending habits.  The easiest way you can do this is to carefully review your bank and credit card statements that cover the holiday time period.

Tips on reviewing your holiday spending:

• Use your statements or MutualBank’s Personal Online Banking…are you signed up for eStatements yet?  
• Look for extra charges from retailers that you visited.
• Pay close attention to your online purchase listings. 
• View your cleared checks to make sure that they were not altered in any way to change the payees or dollar amounts.
• If you see any debits or charges on your statements that look suspicious please notify our Customer Support area immediately by email or by calling 800-382-8031. Additionally, we welcome you to stop by any of our locations!

If you are a victim of online fraud you should also file a complaint at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. 

Like what you read today? Stay tuned. At the beginning of every month, we’ll provide you with new security tips. Just one more way we’re trying to help you live a better life!