*** Crime Alerts ***

14 December 2007

Through our continued investigation into the recent "phishing" schemes, we have determined that many of the calls from Bank of America are legitimate.

According to Bank of America, and its subsidiary FIA Card Services; the questions concerning personal information are part of their legitimate application process. If you are uncomfortable with giving the information over the phone, Bank of America advises that their online application process is available.

W&M Police cautions against giving any personal information over the phone during these "cold calls", as it can be very difficult to determine who is legitimate and who is not.

9 December 2007

Over this weekend the William and Mary Police have had two students report incidents of a “phishing” scheme where a caller says they are from Bank of America.

In one case the caller is asking to update customer information. In the other, the female caller is offering a “student  friendly” credit card. In both cases, the victims gave at least some personal information prior to becoming suspicious and ending the call.

Some Identity Theft Tips:

• Never provide personal information unless you have initiated the contact and have confirmed the business or person's identity. You should only share your information with trusted sources. If you can't verify the identity of the source asking for your personal information, you should be very cautious about the transaction.
• Be extremely cautious of telephone and door-to-door solicitations.
• Be skeptical of offers that seem "too good to be true". They usually are.
• Learn to recognize fraudulent emails.
• Always report suspicious calls and emails requesting personal information to the police.
• If you do provide personal information to someone and you later feel like it may have been suspicious, contact you bank and credit card companies and advise them of the situation. There are also a number of legitimate credit report monitoring options available to you. The big three credit reporting companies, Experian, TransUnion and Equifax all provide for credit monitoring; as well as companies like FreeCreditReports.com or AnnualCreditReport.com
• And finally, the Federal Trade Commission also maintains a web site called the Consumer Sentinel at http://www.consumer.gov/sentinel  You can go to this site and file a Consumer Complaint Form, as well as find information on Identity Theft and Consumer Tips. Plus much more.
  
   
   

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