Lyon County State bank warns against scam
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 02:08 p.m., October 2, 2007
Updated 02:08 p.m., October 2, 2007
Another Emporia financial institution has been bitten by an Internet phisherman.
A number of e-mail accounts in the area this morning held a new message purported to be from Lyon County State Bank. Customers of the Emporia State Federal Credit Union were “phished” in a similar scam in early August.
The latest e-mail states that the bank has “temporarily suspended your account” because of a billing failure.
“This is not from the bank,” said LCSB President Tom Thompson. “It’s a phishing scheme. ... People should not respond to that in any way, shape or form.”
Thompson said that the e-mails appeared to have been sent as broadcast “spam” both to LCSB customers and non-customers.
“Even the bank got one — even the bank,” he said.
Thompson warned recipients not to respond, no matter where their accounts are held.
“Any time that people can gain access to information, if they find opportunity, they will capitalize on it,” he said. “... You can sit there and give them personal information and it can compromise anything you do.”
The phony e-mail regarding LCSB accounts asks customers to provide information for an update, though some of the recipients do not have LCSB accounts:
“We need you to complete an account update so we can unlock your account. ... Once you have completed the process, we will send you an e-mail notifying that your account is available again. After that you can access your account at any time,” the message states.
The e-mail provides an alleged link to the bank to update account information and ends with a threat: “If you fail to provide required information, your account will be automatically deleted from Lyon County State Bank’s database.”
admireed (anonymous) says...
I can't get my on-line acct at the bank to work anyway.
October 2, 2007 at 2:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KristieR (anonymous) says...
You have to be smarter than the computer..........
This type of thing (phishing) is going on all over the country, please be careful when giving out your info. No bank will email you for your private information. Always go to their main page first. If there is a problem with your access, you'll get a message when you try to log in. Then, look up the phone number in the phone book and call them. Don't take the phone number off the (scam) email sent to you.
K
October 2, 2007 at 3:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
admireed (anonymous) says...
You are right KristieR
October 2, 2007 at 3:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Thanks Kristie. You know, you have provided a lot of good information regarding banking/finances for quite some time now. I'm grateful for that. Good job!
October 2, 2007 at 3:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
itguy (anonymous) says...
Excellent advice Kristie, one other thing to add is never ever click the link in the email. Scammers have ways to make the link appear to be your banks website address, but when you click on it it will take you to some other random website. Depending on the way the crooks have structured the scam all it will take is for you to visit the malicious website for your computer to become infected with a virus that can steal your personal information. Even if you don't fill in anything your computer can still be infected. So please do not click on the link in the email.
October 2, 2007 at 5:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )