Key Takeaways
- Cyber crime is on the rise
- Raise your vigilance with respect to cyber security
We encourage you to raise your vigilance with respect to cyber security and be on the lookout for false email domains, web sites, and social media posts that attempt to mislead and defraud customers, vendors, or partners during this period of increased market volatility.
Specific objectives of cyber criminals include
- Wire Fraud: False wire instructions, payment processes, and wire address changes look to take advantage of the higher volume of wire transfers currently being processed in the financial services ecosystem. Scammers are known to compromise public email accounts to send false wire instruction changes from trusted email addresses or create a false sense of urgency around moving funds to new beneficiaries.
- Account Takeovers: Fake web sites – often promoted through paid advertisements and search engine prioritization – impersonate legitimate bank login pages to steal usernames, passwords, and multifactor authentication tokens. These credentials may then be automatically used to log into legitimate services and create fraudulent transactions.
- Crypto Scams: Social media and other platforms claim crypto-related payments to mislead and compromise digital wallet software or capture false “fee payments.”
- False Claims Subrogation: Fraudulent web sites claim a false need for assistance in receiving deposits and other obligations in an attempt to capture data, credentials, or fee payments.
Operate with heightened awareness
- Look to SVBB and FDIC communications for accurate information and call your client service rep if you have any questions.
- Heighten scrutiny around any wire instructions received and verify any changes “out of band” via trusted contact methods previously established.
- Rely on previously communicated links, bookmarks, and domains to access SVBB and related web sites.
- Do not trust unsolicited phone calls or phone numbers found during web searches that request sensitive information.