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Helpful Resources
At Southwest Capital Bank, helping you keep your accounts secure is of the utmost importance. Here are some helpful resources to help you identify scams and keep your hard-earned money safe and secure.
The more you know, the more prepared you will be! Click through these resources to protect yourself from hackers and scammers.
Be Aware of These Scams
Social Security Scams:
In partnership with the Social Security Administration, help us Slam the Scam. Click the button below to report a Social Security scam.
Click below to learn more about how to protect yourself from Social Security scams!
Depositing Checks from Unknown Sources
In this scam, fraudsters will ask you to deposit a check and send a payment to a business or person on their behalf. They promise that you can keep a portion of the money, but the check is fraudulent, leaving you on the hook for the transaction.
Phishing Scams
Scammers may pose as bank employees or government officials to gain information that will gain them access to your accounts. They may ask you to verify your address or provide other personal details.
Gift Card Scams
Scammers pose as a business or government entity and insist you need to pay them using a gift card. This is a huge red flag, as it is not something a legitimate business or entity would request!
Charity Scams and Requests for Donations
Scammers may pretend to represent a charity organization or be fundraising for a special cause when, in reality, they are just gathering your personal information to gain access to your accounts and pocketing your money for themselves.
IRS Tax-Related Scams
Fraudsters will pose as IRS agents and insist you owe a tax debt. They may demand immediate payment and threaten jail time! The IRS will never call you demanding payment in this way. Generally, they will mail you a bill if you owe taxes.
Online Security Tips
Online Banking is an extremely valuable tool in today’s fast-paced world, but it's important to know how to keep your accounts safe.
Follow these tips to minimize the risks to your finances and bank safely online:
Tips for Creating Passwords
Create Stronger Passwords
Southwest Capital Bank requires a user-generated password in order to access online accounts. It may be tempting to create passwords that are easy to remember, but it is important that you make sure you choose one that is strong. The best way to achieve this is by making it long and a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.
Avoid using any common words or phrases, and never create a password that contains your name, initials, or date of birth. We recommend that you change your password every few months.
Security Questions
When setting up online banking, we ask you to provide answers to some standard security questions. These are used to verify you in the event you forget your password. Remember that the answer you give doesn’t have to be factual. For example, you don’t have to answer “Thumper” as the name of your first pet – make it something else, as if it were a password. Remember that would-be scammers will seek out information on social media, and if you've ever posted a photo with the name of your first pet or mentioned your mother's maiden name, for example, your security questions could be compromised! Use a password manager service or app if you are concerned about how to remember everything!
Tips for Computer and Online Security
Secure Your Computer
It is important to keep your computer secure and software up to date. In addition, security software is essential these days, regardless of what you use your computer for. As a minimum, make sure you have a firewall turned on and are running antivirus software. This will ensure you are protected from trojans, keyloggers, and other forms of malware that could be used to gain access to your financial data.
Handle Emails with Caution
Southwest Capital Bank will never send you an email asking you to provide any of your login details. If you receive an email that appears to be from us asking for such details, do not open or respond. Emails like this are attempts at phishing to trick you into handing your credentials over. It is always safer to access your online bank account by typing the address into your browser directly. While we may contact our customers by phone occasionally, we would never ask for passwords or PINs. If in doubt, do not be afraid to hang up and call us back via a telephone number that you have independently confirmed as being valid.
Access Your Accounts from a Secure Location
Avoid accessing your accounts while on computers or devices that other people have access to or on public Wi-Fi. As a rule, it’s best to connect to your Online Banking using computers and networks you know and trust.
If you need to access your Online Banking when you're away from trusted networks, it is recommended that you set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) so that you can establish an encrypted connection and access your accounts from there.
Be Mindful of Website URLs
When accessing Online Banking, look for a small padlock icon in the URL address bar at the top of the browser and verify that the URL of the site begins with ‘https’. These act as confirmation that you are accessing your accounts over a secure, encrypted connection.
Always Log Out When Finished
It is good practice to log out of your Online Banking session when you have finished your business. This will reduce the chances of falling prey to session hijacking and cross-site scripting exploits. As an added measure, it is recommended to use a private browser on your computer or smartphone and set your browser to clear its cache at the end of each session.
Set up Account Notifications
Southwest Capital Bank offers several options for customers to set up text or email notifications to alert them to certain activities on their accounts. For example, if a withdrawal matches or exceeds a specified amount or the account balance dips below a certain point, then a message will be sent. These alerts can help you stay on top of your transactions so that nothing slips through the cracks.
Monitor Your Accounts Regularly
It should go without saying that monitoring your bank statement each month is good practice, as any unauthorized transactions will be sure to appear there. But why wait a whole month to discover a discrepancy? With Southwest Capital Bank’s Online Banking, you have access 24/7 so take advantage of that and check your account on a regular basis. Look at every transaction since you last logged in, and if you spot any anomalies, contact us immediately.
Identity Theft Protection
How can you protect yourself against Identity Theft?
Your identity is one of the most valuable things you own. It’s important to keep your identity from being stolen by someone who can potentially harm your good name and financial well-being. Identity theft occurs when someone uses your name, address, Social Security Number, credit card or financial account numbers, passwords, and other personal information without your knowledge to commit fraud or other crimes.
Online Data Collection Disclosure
Visitors to our website remain anonymous. Southwest Capital Bank does not collect identifying information about visitors to our site. We may use standard software to collect non-identifying information about our visitors, such as:
Date and time our site was accessed
IP address (a numeric address given to servers connected to the Internet)
Web browser used
City, state, and country
We use this information to create summary statistics and to determine the level of interest in information available on our site. Areas of our website may use cookies for security purposes, to allow our web server to log the pages used within the site, and to know if users have visited the site before.
Visitors may elect to provide us with personal information electronically; whenever possible, this information should be encrypted to ensure its confidentiality. This information is used for business purposes only and to aid in handling the sender’s request.
Read our Privacy Disclosure to find out the specifics of what Southwest Capital Bank does with your personal information.
Additional Resources
In partnership with The Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection the U.S. Department of Treasury have produced a Cyber Crime Advisery Report. Access the report below:
Knowledge is power! The more you know, the more you can prevent scammers from gaining access to your information.