ONLINE SAFETY TIPS FROM FIRST STATE BANK

Guarding Yourself Against Identity Theft

What You Need to Know About Online Safety
Your security is of the utmost importance to us here at First State Bank. With more and more transactions taking place online and via mobile apps, we believe that the best defense against online criminals is for us to keep you as informed as possible. By following the practical set of anti-identity-theft tips below, you can protect yourself against the dangers and consequences of identity theft.

How Does Identity Theft Occur?
With all the available means of making transactions out there, coupled with the wealth of personal information available on the Internet, it’s important to know that identity theft can occur in numerous ways, including:

• GETTING PERSONAL INFORMATION OFF BILLS OR CREDIT CARD STATEMENTS IN THE TRASH
• EAVESDROPPING ON PERSONAL TRANSACTIONS IN PUBLIC
• IMPERSONATING A BANK OR CREDIT UNION IN AN EMAIL
• GATHERING INFORMATION FROM A FACSIMILE OF A LEGITIMATE SITE (I.E., A FRAUDULENT SITE)

How to Prevent Identity Theft
To protect yourself against identity theft, here are a few proactive actions you can take:

• SHRED ANY SUPERFLUOUS DOCUMENTS THAT SHOW YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER RATHER THAN THROWING THEM AWAY IN THE TRASH. THE SAME THING GOES FOR DOCUMENTS THAT HAVE YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION ON THEM.
• SHRED ANY PRE-APPROVED CREDIT DOCUMENTS.
• LOG OFF ANY COMPUTER WHEN YOU LEAVE IT.
• LOG OUT OF MOBILE APPS, AND CLOSE THEM AFTER USE—ESPECIALLY ONLINE BANKING, CREDIT CARD, INSURANCE AND SHOPPING APPS.
• INSTALL ANTI-VIRUS AND ANTI-SPYWARE SOFTWARE ON YOUR COMPUTER AND RUN IT AT LEAST EVERY TWO WEEKS.
• BE WARY OF EMAILS FROM SOURCES YOU DON'T KNOW OR TRUST; NEVER CLICK ON ANY LINKS THAT YOU’RE NOT SURE OF.

To learn how to recover from identity theft, please check out the information here