Identity Theft & Fraud Protection:

How to Protect Yourself Online

Protect Yourself from "Phishing" and E-Mail Scams

You may have experienced or read about recent incidents of unsolicited email messages masquerading as legitimate companies that trick recipients into divulging personal and financial information.

These “phishing” (also called "brand spoofing") emails send you to web sites pretending to be legitimate companies that ask for your personal and financial information.

Rest assured that ATB Financial will never ask you to respond via e-mail to any requests for confidential private or personal information including passwords, Customer Card number or login information. You should never send personal identification numbers or other personal confidential information by email to anyone as it is not a secure method of contact.

How The Scams Work

A common email scam uses unsolicited email to deceive consumers into disclosing confidential personal information. The deceptive email suggests clicking on a link or attachment for any one of the following reasons:

• Change/Update to personal information
• Contests
• Possible suspension of client cards or accounts
• Application for products

After clicking on an attachment or link from the unsolicited email, the user is taken to a bogus site that requests confidential personal information, which could include:

• Bank Card Numbers/User ID's
• Account Numbers
• Personal Identification Numbers (PINs)
• Credit Card Numbers
• Social Insurance Numbers
• Other Personal or Private Information
• Passwords

How to Identify the Scam

There are some commonalities that can help you identify the scams:

• They are designed to mimic the look and feel of a genuine site
• They are most commonly sent out through unsolicited emails, containing links or attachments
• The Web address will often have the @ symbol or a numeric address (eg. 123.456.1.2). The address may also include the word, phrase or text "ATB" to make it appear authentic.

How To Help Protect Yourself

It is important to understand that there are ways in which you can help protect yourself from email fraud and web sites that request your personal or banking information.

If you receive an email pretending to be from ATB Financial that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click on the link in the email. To ensure that the email is legitimate, contact us immediately at 1-866-282-4WEB (4932).

• Review your financial statements regularly for unauthorized or suspicious transactions. If you are not yet signed up for ATBOnline consider doing so – accessing your accounts online will allow you to quickly identify suspicious transactions.
  
  
• Never send personal and/or financial information via unsecured email to anyone.
  
  
• Always enter the ATBOnline web site using your bookmarks or any of our published URLs.
  
  
• Do not trust email headers. They can be easily forged.

How to Protect Yourself from other forms of Fraud:

• Protect yourself from identity theft, click here to learn how.
• Learn how an identity thief can steal your personal information and use it for illegal gains.
• Credit Alert®: Monitor your personal credit file against potential credit fraud crimes.

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