Fraud Prevention

As a TrustTexas Bank customer, we make it a priority to protect you financially. Please always feel free to contact our branch staff for any questions or concerns involving potential fraud for help and guidance.

Below we have provided tips and articles to assist you with safeguarding your information.

Protecting personal information is a responsibility consumers must take seriously. We’ve all heard the reports of security breaches, ID theft, Internet fraud, etc. for which the resolution can be time-consuming and costly. The best and easiest way to prevent this from happening to you is education. The amount of information available is overwhelming, but there are a few central themes.

The FDIC has plenty of pointers for identity theft and steps to take if victimized.  Please visit their site for more helpful information: https://www.fdic.gov/consumer-resource-center/cybersecurity

For your convenience, we’ve compiled data from federal agencies, regulators and banking industry associations all in one place. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with this information and take the steps necessary to help protect your personal information.

IMPORTANT: TrustTexas Bank will NEVER call you from 800-342-0679. NEVER respond to, or click on a link from a suspicious text. Our fraud alerts come with a unique 5-digit shortcode. If you receive a suspicious call or text message, please ignore the call, or delete the text and call your local branch. DO NOT give out your username and password to anyone.

 

MoneyiQ

How we help protect you from fraud – Our Debit Card Fraud Monitoring System & Two-Way Text Alerts

To protect your account, we monitor your ATM and debit card transactions for potentially fraudulent activity which may include a sudden change in locale, a sudden string of costly purchases, or any pattern associated with new fraud trends around the world.
If we suspect fraudulent ATM or debit card use, we’ll be calling you to validate the legitimacy of your transactions. Your participation in responding to our call is critical to prevent potential risk and avoid restrictions we may place on the use of your card.

  • Our call will ask you to verify recent transaction activity on your card. You will NEVER be asked to provide your 16-digit card number, PIN, or 3-digit security code.
  • Starting February 4, 2021, Two-Way Text Alerts will be sent when our system detects suspicious activity on your card. You’ll receive a text message from the number 37-268 with details about the suspected transaction. All you have to do is respond to the text with a “yes” or “no” to confirm or deny the transaction.
    • If you indicate the transaction is fraud, you’ll receive another message with a number to call for follow-up.
    • If not, you’re all set. The system will mark the transaction as legitimate and you can get on with your day – simple as that.
    • Important: A text alert from us warning of suspicious activity on your card will NEVER include a link to be clicked. Never click on a link in a text message that is supposedly from us.
  • If we have your mobile phone number on file, you don’t have to do anything. It’s really that easy. If there is suspicious activity, we’ll send a text alert right away.

Our goal is to minimize your exposure to risk and the impact of any fraud. To ensure we can continue to reach you whenever potential fraud is detected, please keep us informed of your correct phone numbers and addresses at all times.

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Tips to protect yourself from debit card fraud

In the meantime, please be diligent in monitoring transaction activity on your account and contact us immediately if you identify any fraudulent transactions. Here are some additional tips on protecting yourself from debit card fraud:

  1. Unless absolutely required for a legitimate business purpose, avoid giving out your:
    • Address and Zip Code
    • Phone Number
    • Date of Birth
    • Social Security Number
    • Card of Account Number
    • Card Expiration Date
    • PIN
  2. Protect your card and PIN
    • Protect your ATM and debit cards as if it were cash.
    • Report lost or stolen cards immediately.
    • Don’t write your PIN on your card or give the number out to anyone, including friends and family, and do not reveal it to anyone over the phone.
    • Avoid using numbers for your PIN that are easily identified (birth date, phone number, etc.) with your personal identity.
  3. Conduct your transactions privately
    • Use common courtesy at the ATM. Give people ahead of you space to conduct their transactions.
    • When you use the ATM conduct your business quickly and efficiently, make sure no one watches you key in your PIN.
    • Use your body and free hand to shield the ATM keypad during the transaction. This simple step prevents a camera or remote reader from recording your personal information including card numbers.
  4. Be watchful for “skimmers”
    • Do not swipe your card in machines that claim to clean, re-magnetize or renew your card.
    • If the machine looks like it has been tampered with, re-manufactured or has any loose parts don’t use it. This machine could be a “skimmer” which is used to copy identifying information from the magnetic strip on your card.
  5. Take the receipt with you
    • Never leave the receipt behind, even after an incomplete transaction. Discarded ATM receipts can lead to identity theft and account hijacking.
  6. Check your debit card account frequently
    • If you find any irregularities in your statement, e.g. charges made for items that you didn’t order, cash withdrawals that you didn’t make. Then contact us immediately to report the incident. Your liability under federal law for unauthorized use of your ATM or debit card depends on how quickly you report the loss.
  7. Online, you should never respond to unsolicited e-mails that:
    • Ask you to verify your card or account number; such e-mails are not sent by legitimate businesses
    • Link to websites; such sites can look legitimate but may collect data or put spyware on your computer

 

General tips to protect yourself from fraud:

  • NEVER provide your personal information in response to an unsolicited request, whether it is over the phone or over the Internet. E-mails and Internet pages created by phishers may look exactly like the real thing. They may even have a fake padlock icon that ordinarily is used to denote a secure site. If you did not initiate the communication, you should not provide any information. A financial institution or government agency would never send an alert asking you to verify your account information online.
  • Do not be intimidated by an e-mail or caller who suggests dire consequences if you do not immediately provide or verify financial information.
  • Be especially wary of e-mails concealing their true identity. If someone sends you an e-mail using a mail header that has no useful identifying data, contains misspelled words and/or awkward phrasing, that may be an indication that the person is hiding something and is not legitimate.
  • Read e-mails only from senders you know and do not open suspicious e-mail attachments.
  • Do not use links in an e-mail to get to a bank or credit card website. If you believe the contact may be legitimate, contact the financial institution or credit card company yourself. You can find phone numbers and websites on the monthly statements you receive, or you can look the company up in a phone book or on the Internet. The key is that you should be the one to initiate the contact, using contact information that you have verified yourself.
  • Look for the “lock” icon on the browser status bar, or look for “https” in the web address. Both are indications that the information is secure and encrypted during transmission.
  • Review account statements regularly to ensure all charges are correct. If your account statement is late in arriving, call your financial institution or credit card company to find out why. If your financial institution or credit card company offers electronic account access, periodically review activity online to catch suspicious activity.
  • Remove mail promptly from your mailbox. Never use your mailbox for outgoing mail (no matter how safe you think your neighborhood is) and shred pre-approved credit card offers before you throw them away. Identity thieves raid mailboxes for credit card offers and financial statements.
  • Be very careful with receipts. Make sure you have them when you leave the store or ATM and do not throw them into public trash cans.
  • Be creative when you select a password. Don’t be obvious like using the last four digits of your social security number, phone number, address, birth date or any format that could easily be decoded by thieves. The most difficult passwords to crack are those that use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols.
  • Limit the number of ID and credit cards you carry. If they are stolen, you’ll have fewer to replace.
  • Whenever possible, use online statements – paper today is the cause of more actual instances of ID fraud than are electronic thefts.
  • Do not log onto Online Banking when someone else is watching.
  • Avoid Online Banking and Bill Pay when you are using a computer that is not your own.
  • If others have access to your computer, clear the browser’s cache to eliminate copies of web pages that may be stored on your hard drive.
  • Avoid writing down your log-in ID and PIN – try to memorize them.
  • Never leave your computer unattended when you are logged on.
  • Always log out of the system.

 

Reporting – What to do if you fall victim:

  • Contact the three major credit bureaus and request that the agencies place a fraud alert and a victim’s statement in your file.
  • Report the incident to the card issuer as quickly as possible (many companies have set up toll-free numbers and 24-hr service to deal with these emergencies).
  • Request your card issuer close your compromised account number and reissue you a new card with a different number.
  • Contact your local police department to file a criminal report.
  • Contact the social security admin fraud hotline to report the unauthorized use of your personal identification information.
  • Notify the registry of motor vehicles.
  • Request a free copy of your credit report to check whether any accounts were opened without your consent.
  • Check your other accounts such as eBay, PayPal, your e-mail ISP, online trading or shopping accounts – everything for which you use online passwords.
  • Continue to monitor your account activity and review account statements carefully after the information loss. If any unauthorized charges appear, call the card issuers immediately and follow up with a hard copy letter via a traditional delivery service such as the U.S. Postal Service describing each questionable charge.
  • Document the names and phone numbers of everyone you speak with regarding the incident.
  • Follow up your phone calls with letters.

 

Contact information:

  • Equifax: 800-525-6285; PO Box 740241; Atlanta, GA 30374-0241; www.equifax.com
  • Experian: 888-397-3742; PO Box 9530; Allen, TX 75013; www.experian.com
  • TransUnion: 800-680-7289; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, PO Box 6790; Fullerton, CA 92634; www.transunion.com
  • Notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov
  • Call the Social Security Fraud Hotline: 800-269-0271

Report suspicious e-mails or calls to:

  • The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through the Internet at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft or by calling 877-IDTHEFT.
  • The anti-phishing network at: reportphishing@antiphishing.com.