A Message from People’s Bank – Stop the Fraud

It’s the holiday season and, unfortunately, fraudsters don’t take a vacation. As a matter of fact, this is the time of year when fraud attempts are at an all-time high and scammers will stop at nothing to gain access to your account. We want to help customers think twice before clicking a link or giving up personal information by email, text or over the phone.

If you receive a suspicious email or text:

• Do not download any attachments in the message. Attachments may contain malware such as viruses, worms or spyware.
• Do not click links that appear in the message. Links in phishing messages direct you to fraudulent websites.
• Do not reply to the sender. Ignore any requests from the sender and do not call any phone numbers provided in the message.
• Report it. Help fight scammers by reporting them. Forward suspected phishing emails to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org. If you got a phishing text message, forward it to SPAM (7726). Then, report the phishing attack to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint. In addition, call your local branch of account to report the fraud. Be sure to include any relevant details, such as whether the suspicious caller attempted to impersonate the bank and whether any personal or financial information was provided to the suspicious caller.

If you receive a suspicious phone call:

• If you receive a phone call that seems to be a phishing attempt hang up or end the call. Be aware that area codes can be misleading. If your Caller ID displays a local area code, this does not guarantee that the caller is local.
• Do not respond to the caller’s requests. Financial institutions and legitimate companies will never call you to request your personal information. Never give personal information to the incoming caller, including passwords or security questions.

Educating our customers is one of the most effective ways to prevent falling victim to scams.

It’s time to put scammers in their place. 

People’s Bank