Identity Theft & Identity Fraud
Identity theft and identity fraud are terms used to refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person's personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.
Identity theft reports are a growing trend with criminals using data stolen from a variety of locations.
With enough identifying information about an individual, a criminal can take over that individual's identity to conduct a wide range of crimes. For example:
- False applications for loans and credit cards,
- Fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts,
- Fraudulent use of telephone calling cards or online accounts, or
- Obtaining other goods or privileges which the criminal might be denied if he were to use his real name
Bank of the Valley has implemented a number of controls to help prevent criminals from opening accounts. These controls may be felt as transactions are conducted; however, the purpose is to protect our customers and their information.
Social Engineering Threats
Phishing (email), smishing (text) and vishing (voice) are all scenarios where a bad actor is attempting to impersonate someone else. These actors attempt to build urgency and a false sense of trust with a customer in hopes of getting them to click a malicious link or provide a user name, password or MFA code. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is aiding the bad actors: using highly convincing voice impersonation technology and extremely well-crafted professional phishing emails, making them harder to detect. Customers should know the bank will never reach out to you directly to ask for this type of information. Please avoid clicking links and attachments in unexpected emails. Always know you can hang up with the person on the phone and contact the bank at a known good phone number.
Avoiding Account Takeover
- An account take over is when a bad actor gains access to a customer’s email account or online banking account. Bad actors will use credential stuffing tactics taking stolen login credential information from various websites to then attempt unauthorized access. Here are some tips to help avoid an account takeover from happening to you.
- Passwords should be complex, containing a variety of numbers, letters and special characters.
- Always use different user name and password combinations for different websites. Never use the same combination for all authenticated access.
- Enable MFA, biometrics and any other security technology available to aid in preventing unauthorized access.
Growing Fraud
Technology is creating new sophisticated types of fraud that are becoming more difficult to identify. This is through the usage of artificial intelligence (AI).
AI is being used to create highly convincing scams, like deepfake audio/video to impersonate loved ones or executives, sophisticated phishing emails, and fake websites, enabling mass targeting or personalized attacks for financial theft, identity theft, and misinformation, often with perfect grammar and realistic voices making them hard to detect.
Common Types of AI Fraud
- Deepfakes (Audio/Video): Scammers clone voices or generate fake videos of public figures or family members to solicit money or spread false news, notes the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
- Sophisticated Phishing: AI creates highly personalized emails and messages that bypass traditional filters, making them harder to spot.
- Chatbot Scams: AI-powered chatbots on fake websites trick users into revealing personal information or clicking malicious links, says NPR.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: Creating entirely fake identities using AI for purposes like stealing financial aid funds ("ghost students").
- AI-Driven Investment Fraud: Using AI to generate fake promotional materials or manipulate stock prices with misleading information.
- Unusual requests for immediate money or sensitive data.
- Claims of guaranteed high returns with little risk.
- Messages with perfect grammar that feel too human or urgent.
- Requests to verify identity via unusual methods.
- Verify: Use a pre-arranged secret word or phrase with family for urgent requests. We encourage our customer to come into the bank and set up a secret word or phrase as well on their accounts.
- Question High Returns: Be skeptical of investments promising guaranteed high returns.
- Check Sources: Confirm authenticity by checking multiple sources and verifying websites carefully.
Stay Vigilant: Be aware that AI makes scams more convincing and scalable.
Red Flags
How to Protect Yourself
- Verify: Use a pre-arranged secret word or phrase with family for urgent requests. We encourage our customer to come into the bank and set up a secret word or phrase as well on their accounts.
- Question High Returns: Be skeptical of investments promising guaranteed high returns.
- Check Sources: Confirm authenticity by checking multiple sources and verifying websites carefully.
- Stay Vigilant: Be aware that AI makes scams more convincing and scalable.
Monitor Accounts
The best way to detect fraud is to monitor accounts. Set up low balance or transaction alerts. Be cautious where you provide your information. Only purchase items from reputable sites and don’t give out information over the phone, unless the caller has been verified.
How to Report Fraud
As soon as you detect fraud on your account, contact your local Bank of the Valley branch to determine next steps. That may include disabling your online banking, turning off your debit card or closing your accounts. Depending on the severity of the fraud you may also want to freeze your credit by calling all three Credit Bureaus.
- Equifax – 1-800-685-1111
- Experian – 1-888-397-3742
- TransUnion – 1-888-909-8872
You can also file a police report or report the theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), or the Social Security Administration (SSA).