Bank officials: Beware of texts, phone calls claiming to be from Citizens First
Aug. 11—CLINTON — A Clinton bank is warning residents to be aware of text and phone messages attempting to obtain personal banking information.
Citizens First Bank employees have been notified by many customers and non-customers of text messages they have received stating to be from a Fraud Department and claiming to be from Citizens First Bank, bank officials stated in a press release issued Thursday afternoon.
The messages are asking if certain transactions were attempted, mostly purchases at Walmart and Target for higher dollar amounts. Many times these text messages were followed by a phone call from a restricted number. The caller is very comfortable on the phone and not easily rattled if questioned who he is.
The caller's goal is to gather information to hack the customer's digital banking information and get the person to prompt a "forgot password", then have the customer verify the One-Time PIN.
In response, Citizens First Bank is making recommendations to residents to keep their accounts safe:
—Don't share your Digital Banking login information (username/password) with anyone.
—Ignore texts or calls requesting personal information.
—If you get an alert and suspect fraudulent or suspicious activity, contact CFB immediately.
—When a One Time PIN is texted to you, don't share it with anyone.
"Fraud is unfortunately rampant and we take any incident very seriously," Citizens First Bank officials stated in the press release.
The bank said it will share and post updates as they are available.
