WHAT IS IT?

Phishing [pronounced 'fishing'] is an internet or e-mail scam technique that lures unsuspecting victims to divulge personal, financial and/or password information. The sole purpose of these scams is to trick you into sharing your information with thieves. These internet fraudsters use very official looking e-mails, pop-ups or internet sites that have been 'faked' and ask you to update, validate, or confirm your account information. Examples:

"We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity."

"During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn't verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information."

Some phishing e-mails threaten a dire consequence if you don't respond. The messages direct you to a website that looks just like a legitimate organization's site. But it isn't. It's a bogus site whose sole purpose is to trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.

Burke & Herbert Bank does not send out e-mails asking you to confirm your social security number, passwords or financial account numbers.

HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?

• Do not click on any links in suspicious unsolicited e-mails. Just by clicking on these links, it could initiate a virus installation, which could capture your personal information.



• Verify with the company that the e-mail is from them before replying. Do not call telephone number[s] that may be provided in the e-mail. Use only a telephone number or website you know to be valid, one obtained from the phone book, the back of your credit card or from your own legal documents.



• Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges.



• When making transactions on the internet, make sure it is a secure site. Look for a "padlock" or "key" at the bottom of the web page, a URL address that begins with "https://" [the 's' stands for 'secure'] or the words, "Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)." You can learn other ways to avoid e-mail scams and deal with deceptive spam at www.ftc.gov/spam.

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU

If you feel your Bank account information has been stolen, call your Burke & Herbert Bank Branch Manager immediately. This may allow us to prevent unauthorized transactions by blocking or closing the compromised account. In order to prevent further fraud, we will issue you new account number(s).