Common Fraud Scams

Phishing - A phony e-mail sent by a criminal that is made to look like a legitimate e-mail from Pegasus Bank. Many times the e-mails will have links embedded into them that will send you to a site that looks like Pegasus Bank and will ask you to provide personal information.

Common themes used in Phishing e-mails:

• Urgent messages that indicate your account may be "held" or "closed" if you fail to click on the link to verify your personal information. Pegasus Bank will never contact you and ask for you to confirm information in this manner.
• Messages regarding system updates that claim Pegasus Bank needs for you to validate your online banking credentials, including token codes, via a link embedded into the  e-mail, by replying to the e-mail or visiting a different web address.
• Look for typos or other noticeable errors. Phishing scams tend to originate outside of the U.S., where English is not the native language, so there are generally plenty of misspelled words or poor grammar used in these types of e-mails. Remember:  To successfully pull off a good phishing scam, the fraudster must use a highly recognizable company.  You should be leery of any e-mail that comes from the IRS, FDIC, NACHA or other respected companies that ask you to click on a link or open a file attachment. 

Money mules - unsuspecting victims that are nothing more than a middleman to assist criminals in the laundering of stolen funds. These individuals are lured by "too good to be true" type jobs that promise large amounts of money for generally easy work. The job requirement typically requires a wire transfer on uncollected funds to a company or individual that is unknown to the victim. It is enticing to think that you can suddenly receive thousands of dollars for just depositing a check into your account and sending a portion of the money on to others. Unfortunately the money mule will generally end up responsible for returning all of the stolen funds, including the amount they wired out.

SMShing is phishing that happens via SMS text message. A criminal sends a text messages tricking you into providing financial or personal information or clicking on links that will sneak viruses onto your mobile device. To guard against these scams:

• DO NOT respond to a text message that requests personal or financial information.

Malware, short for "malicious software," includes viruses, spyware and trojans that are designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the user even knowing they are on the system. Malware is often used to steal personal information and commit fraud. There are several easy ways to minimize the risk of malware:

• Downloads from file sharing and social networking sites can be distributions points for malware
• Attachments and free software from unknown sources shouldn't be opened or installed
• Pop-up advertisements asking for personal or financial information are likely fraudulent, so it's better to close them
• Updated security and system software can protect your computer from malware threats

Vishing uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to call, leaving an automated recording. It alerts the consumer that their account has experienced unusual activity. The message instructs the consumer to call the same phone number shown in the spoofed caller ID with the same name as the financial company they are pretending to represent.

Rather than provide any information, you should contact Pegasus Bank at 214.353.3000, to verify the validity of the message.