Citizens Bank Logo

Bulloch First Logo

As a Community Bank, we support our local businesses and economy.  Supporting local businesses keeps money circulating within our community. Independent shops often source products and services locally, creating a ripple effect that benefits other businesses, creates jobs, and strengthens the local economy.

Local businesses often offer unique, handcrafted, or specialized items that you won’t find in big-box stores. Additionally, they provide personalized customer service, making your shopping experience more meaningful and tailored to your needs.

During the holiday season, it may be necessary to shop online due to reasons out of your control.  Here are some safety tips to keep your shopping experience safe from online fraudsters.

1. Stick to Trusted Retailers

Only shop on well-known websites or retailers with a solid reputation. If you’re exploring a new site, verify its authenticity by reading reviews and checking for contact information. Look for security indicators, like “https://” in the URL and a padlock icon, to ensure the site encrypts your data.

2. Beware of Holiday Scams

Avoid deals that seem too good to be true, especially from unknown sellers or ads on social media. Scammers often prey on holiday shoppers with fake discounts. Don’t click on links in unsolicited emails or messages. Instead, go directly to the retailer’s website.

3. Use Secure Payment Methods

Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your payment accounts for added security.

4. Monitor Your Accounts Regularly

Check your bank and credit card statements frequently to spot unauthorized charges. Set up transaction alerts through your bank or card provider to stay informed about the activity.

5. Protect Your Personal Information

Use strong, unique passwords for your shopping accounts and update them regularly. Consider using a password manager to keep track. Avoid shopping on public Wi-Fi networks. If you must, use a virtual private network (VPN) for encryption.

These tips not only protect you from fraud but also ensure a stress-free holiday shopping experience!

Remember to SHOP LOCAL to keep our local economy strong!

BankingBytes is a Quarterly feature that will provide information on some of the most commonly asked I.T. questions received at the Bank. In researching articles for our customers, AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is real and probably you’re using it.  Think Chat GPT, your Apple phone’s “Hey Siri”, and some GPS applications like Google Maps and Waze use AI algorithms to determine routes and provide real-time updates to users.  While AI can be used effectively, this article, from June 11, 2024, points out how AI can be used in fraudulent ways.  As always, stay vigilant!

There’s No Faking It: Deepfake Fraud Is a Real Problem

Source: https://www.idx.us/

Summary:

Scammers are using realistic, AI-generated deepfakes for the purpose of committing identity fraud and other crimes. Here’s how the technology is being used by bad actors, how to recognize deepfake audio and video, and how to protect yourself against this evolving threat.

AI-generated audio and video are being used to trick businesses and individuals

The person at the other end of that video call certainly looks and sounds legitimate. Maybe it’s someone you’ve bonded with on a dating site, or maybe it’s a semi-distant relative or remote work colleague. Yes, it’s odd that they’re asking you to send them money or provide sensitive personal information, but you trust them.

Just one problem: They’re not real. Their image and voice have been generated through artificial intelligence (AI), and are being controlled behind the scenes by a scammer. What you’re experiencing is a deepfake, a rapidly evolving technology often used for malicious acts.

The U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) defines a deepfake as video, photography, or audio that “seems real but has been manipulated with AI. The underlying technology can replace faces, manipulate facial expressions, synthesize faces, and synthesize speech.”

More and more criminals are using AI deepfakes to commit identity fraud or pry money and data from businesses and individuals. The digital verification platform Sumsub reported an astonishing 1740% jump in deepfake-related fraud attempts in North America between 2022 and 2023.

How deepfakes are being used in scams

By creating a deepfake persona, fraudsters can trick people into believing they’re interacting with someone they know or want to know. This builds trust, making it easier for the scammer to manipulate the victim. Cybercriminals can also utilize deepfakes to create compromising material for the purpose of extortion. They can use an AI bot to, for example, take a brief snippet of a person’s real voice and “clone” it to produce an authentic-sounding facsimile; the faked voice can then be made to say just about anything.

The majority of deepfake fraud cases thus far have targeted businesses. Even large global companies can fall for these scams: In one recent example, an employee at a multinational design and engineering firm was tricked by a deepfake video call into transferring $25 million of the company’s funds to fraudsters. Many bad actors, meanwhile, are using deepfake audio and video in attempts to gain access to company data, which could result in breaches of customer information.

As this technology grows more sophisticated, it’s also getting easier to use—which means it’s becoming increasingly popular as a method to defraud individuals. Deepfakes have already made their way into the world of romance scams, according to a recent report in Wired. The article described how a crew of scammers used “deepfakes and face-swapping to ensnare victims in romance scams, building trust with victims using fake identities, before tricking them into parting with thousands of dollars.”

Tips for detecting deepfake video and audio

While a number of deepfake detection tools currently exist, many are only available to businesses. Also, most are designed to analyze recordings, and cannot help in real time during audio or video calls. To recognize deepfakes in real time, you’ll most likely have to rely on your own powers of observation.

The MIT Media Lab offered tips on how to determine whether a person seen on video is a deepfake. Zero in on elements of the person’s face, they advised. This includes:

• Cheeks and forehead – “Does the skin appear too smooth or too wrinkly? Is the agedness of the skin similar to the agedness of the hair and eyes?”

• Eyes and eyebrows – “Do shadows appear in places that you would expect?”

• Eyeglasses – “Is there any glare? Is there too much glare? Does the angle of the glare change when the person moves?”

• Blinking – “Does the person blink enough or too much?”
• Lip movements – “Some deepfakes are based on lip syncing. Do the lip movements look natural?”

In an article for PolitiFact, Manjeet Rege, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas, and Siwei Lyu, a computer science and engineering professor at the University at Buffalo, offered advice on listening for clues that a voice might actually be an audio deepfake. These include “irregular or absent breathing noises, intentional pauses and intonations, along with inconsistent room acoustics.”

Use your common sense

One thing is clear: Deepfake technology is evolving at such speed that it will become progressively more difficult to tell fiction from reality. Today you might be able to spot a weird glitch in a person’s face on video, or a strange vocal pattern on a call. But those flaws might not be as noticeable a year or two from now.

Beyond the observational tips offered here, your best defense is to use common sense. If someone contacts you by phone or video—whether or not it’s a person you seemingly know and trust—and makes an unusual request or demand involving money or sensitive information, step back and assess the situation. Do whatever you can to independently verify that what the person is telling you is true. As AI expert Manjeet Rege said in the PolitiFact interview, “Healthy skepticism is warranted given how realistic this emerging technology has become.”

BankingBytes is a new Quarterly feature that will provide information on some of the most commonly asked I.T. questions received at the Bank. One of the frustrations our users have is their device locking them out of Internet Banking, and if the truth be known, probably their other Applications that require password changes.

This edition of BankingBytes will attempt to explain what Cached Credentials is and how it is helpful, but also aggravating when trying to use your favorite app but can’t due to a password change.

THEN, you call the bank to get your password reset and you sign on one time without incident, and then the next time, WHAM, you can’t sign on. So now, your frustration is off the charts. Hopefully, this article will help in preventing aggravation, blood pressure issues, 4-letter-word rants, etc.

Cached Credentials in plain language, is a vault on your device where a user ID is tied to a password for a specific application.

Cached credentials on your PC can lead to frustrations primarily due to security concerns and inconvenience. While they offer the convenience of faster logins by storing credentials locally, they also pose significant risks. One frustration is the potential for unauthorized access if someone gains physical or remote access to your device. This risk can be especially worrisome if your cached credentials are not adequately protected.

Moreover, cached credentials can cause issues when passwords are changed or updated. If a user changes their password but forgets to update the cached credentials, they may encounter login failures or lockouts, leading to frustration and wasted time trying to troubleshoot the issue.

Overall, while cached credentials offer convenience, the potential security risks and the potential for authentication issues can lead to frustration and concerns about the overall security of your PC and sensitive information. Regularly reviewing and managing cached credentials can help mitigate these frustrations and enhance security.

The Bank will ask you to clear your Cache and Cookies to help resolve sign-on issues with our Website, which leads to the next question, “How do I do that?”

The common browsers are Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. Here is a link for Microsoft Edge. How to Manage and Clear Your Cache and Cookies | Edge Learning Center (microsoft.com)

Here is a link to clear cache and cookies in Chrome. Clear cache and cookies – Computer – Google Account Help

If you are using a different browser, simply search, “How do I clear cache and cookies for (insert your browser name here.)”

The ABA and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Announce Partnership to Combat Check Fraud. Source of below press release is: aba.com

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service today announced a new joint effort to combat the rapid rise in check fraud, which has increased nationwide by 385% since the pandemic, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Check fraud schemes commonly target the U.S. mail to steal checks, alter or wash them to change the payee and dollar amount, and ultimately steal money from victims’ accounts.

ABA and USPIS’ anti-check fraud initiative will focus on four main areas: educating U.S. Postal Service and bank customers about check fraud and what they can do to protect themselves; addressing money mules and collusive accountholders; collaborating with law enforcement; and training bank employees and postal workers on red flags and prevention.

“We appreciate this opportunity to join with U.S. Postal Inspection Service to inform and protect consumers,” said ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols. “Working together to address the unprecedented rise in check fraud offers us a number of opportunities to make a difference, including educating the public on how to safely use the mail system to send checks while also taking advantage of the advancements in payments technology banks offer.”

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is proud to partner with the American Bankers Association to raise awareness among the public about check fraud and steps that can be taken to prevent it,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale. “Postal customers are also the customers of the American Bankers Association’s member financial institutions, and so we share a common sense of responsibility to protect those customers from check fraud and financial harm. Awareness of check fraud and check fraud prevention strategies will empower the public to protect themselves from financial harm while making it more difficult for criminals to perpetrate this crime.”

To kick off this partnership, ABA and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service today released a new consumer resource to educate consumers about check washing and what they can do to protect their mail and their checks.

According to the infographic, consumers can take several actions to protect their mail including:

• Get your mail promptly after delivery. Don’t leave it in your mailbox overnight. 
• If you’re heading out of town, ask the post office to hold your mail until you return. 
• Sign up for informed delivery at USPS.com. It sends you daily email notifications of incoming mail and packages. 
• Contact the sender if you don’t receive mail that you’re expecting. 
• Consider buying security envelopes to conceal the contents of your mail. 
• Use the letter slots inside your Post Office to send mail.

To protect their checks, bank customers can take the following actions:

• Use pens with indelible black ink so it is more difficult for a criminal to wash your checks.
• Don’t leave blank spaces in the payee or amount lines.
• Don’t write personal details, such as your Social Security number, credit card information, driver’s license number or phone number on checks.
• Use mobile or online banking to access copies of your checks and ensure they are not altered. While logged in, review your bank activity and statements for errors.
• If your bank provides an image of a paid check, review the back of the check to ensure the indorsement information is correct and matches the intended payee, since criminals will sometimes deposit your check unaltered.
• Consider using e-check, ACH automatic payments and other electronic and/or mobile payments.
• Follow up with payees to make sure that they received your check.

Consumers who suspect they have been a victim of check fraud should file a report immediately with:

• Their bank and request copies of all fraudulent checks
• The local police department
• The United States Postal Inspection Service at https://www.uspis.gov/report or call 1-877-876-2455 

The full infographic is available here. 

About the American Bankers Association

The American Bankers Association is the voice of the nation’s $23.7 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that together employ approximately 2.1 million people, safeguard $18.8 trillion in deposits and extend $12.5 trillion in loans.

About the U.S. Postal Inspection Service

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the country. For more than 200 years, U.S. Postal Inspectors have protected the U.S. Postal Service, secured the nation’s mail system, and ensured public trust in the mail. 

###