Tips to Protect Your Money and Identity
Awareness is the key to effective protection against identity (ID) theft. CrossFirst Bank wants to help build your awareness of steps you can take to protect yourself from ID theft. Identity theft occurs when someone commits fraud by using your personal identifiable information, such as your name, social security number, or credit card number, without your permission. Here are some things you can do to protect your information.
Identity Theft Protection Tips
- Be judicious with whom you share your personal information and Social Security number, and never share your Social Security number with anyone through e-mail.
- Report lost or stolen cards immediately.
- Shred all materials in a home shredder that have important information on them such as your full name, date of birth, account numbers, etc.
- Use anti-virus software on your computer.
- Don’t open emails or attachments from people you do not recognize.
- Protect your password(s).
- Change your password(s) frequently and make them difficult to guess.
- Review and reconcile your banking transactions on a regular basis.
- Do not open emails or answer telephone requests for information from people you do not know.
- Where possible, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) or out-of-band authentication (OOBA), if not enabled by default.
- Verify the use of a secure session in your browser for online banking and vendor payments (the URL address should have an “s” at the end of the HTTP address to indicate a secure session).
- Do not leave your computer unattended and close your computer sessions when not in use.
- Check your credit report at least annually to dispute any possible discrepancies. You can obtain a free yearly credit report here: Annual Credit Report
For more information on identity theft protection, please visit Federal Trade Commission by clicking here.
Tips to Protect Your Business
As a business owner or employee of a business, you need to take proactive steps to avoid, or at least minimize, most threats.
- Create strong passwords.
- Prohibit the use of “shared” passwords.
- Never share usernames or passwords with third-party vendors.
- Limit administrative rights on users’ workstations.
- Follow your company’s security policies and procedures.
- Ensure your company uses anti-virus software.
- Don’t open emails or attachments from people you do not recognize and do not answer telephone requests for information from people you do not know.
- Protect your password(s).
- Change your password(s) frequently and make them difficult to guess.
- Where possible, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) or out-of-band authentication (OOBA), if not enabled by default.
- Verify the use of a secure session in your browser for online banking and vendor payments (the URL address should have an “s” at the end of the HTTP address to indicate a secure session).
- Do not leave your computer unattended and close your computer sessions when not in use.
Scams to Be Aware Of
CrossFirst Bank will NEVER contact you through email for confidential information such as your account number, Social Security number, debit/credit card or PIN. If you receive such an email that appears to be from CrossFirst Bank, please contact us. This common technique, where online fraud takes place through email, pop-up windows, and invalid websites, is called “phishing.” If we need to update such information about you, we will contact you through more secure methods.
