SECURITY ALERT: ZELLE PAYMENTS

Please be aware of a social engineering scam exploiting Zelle® mobile payment service, where fraudsters are posing as legitimate financial institution employees to steal money from innocent victims.

The scammers are contacting victims by phone or text message stating there was fraud on their account, and they need to take steps to secure their funds.

In some cases, the scammers have knowledge of the victim’s personal information like name, date of birth. In some cases, as you may have seen reported on the national news, the scammers even knew the victim’s account numbers. They are instructing victims to set up a new Zelle profile to secure their funds, but the money is being transferred to the thief’s account.

We will NEVER ask to secure your account by using a Zelle transfer.
We will never ask you to share your username, password, or authentication codes.

Please review the following tips that will help avoid fraud:

  • If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be your financial institution, hang up and call them back at a phone number you know is valid.
  • Even if caller ID shows a legitimate phone number, and the person calling seems to know some of your information, hang up and call back.
  • If you receive an unsolicited text asking for personal information, do not click on any links. Legitimate companies won’t ask for personal information about your account by text.
  • Never share login information, such as usernames and passwords. Important: never share one-time codes you receive by text or email with anyone else over the phone, or via text. Fraudsters use these one-time codes to reset your passwords without your knowledge.
  • Do not send money through payment apps to anyone you don’t personally know. When sending money to someone you do know—speak to them directly and verify the email address/phone number associated with their payment apps.

 

If something doesn’t seem right, the best thing to do is hang up immediately. As always, feel free to call us with any questions or concerns at
409-899-3430.