[What is a fraudulent, spoofing or phishing email?]
A fraudulent (a.k.a. spoofing, imposter, or phishing) e-mail involves the mass distribution of "spoofed" e-mail messages with return addresses, links, and branding which falsely appear to come from a particular organization (such as a bank, insurance company, retailer or credit card company). These fraudulent messages are designed to fool the recipients into divulging sensitive personal data such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers and passwords, social security numbers, etc. Because these emails look "official," an average of 5% of recipients respond to them, resulting in financial losses, identity theft, and other fraudulent activity. It's often hard to detect a fraudulent e-mail. That's because the visible e-mail address of the sender often seems genuine (such as support@cnbohio.com), as do the design and graphics. But there are telltale signs to be aware of. For example, fraudulent e-mails often try to extract personal information from you:
- By luring you into providing it on the spot (e.g., by replying to the e-mail)
- By including links to a 'phishing' website that tries to get you to disclose personal data.
- By threatening to close or disable your account if you don't provide the requested information.
- By announcing that someone wants to send you money and needs your bank account information to complete the transaction.
- By asking you to re-activate or verify your account information because of recent security upgrades or software enhancements.
Has this happened at Citizens?
To date, no fraudulent e-mail messages from sources claiming to be Citizens National Bank have been reported. However, fraudulent e-mails claiming to be from the FDIC have been reported by our customers. We assure you that these messages have not compromised our systems or your accounts in any way. We take these incidents seriously and work with law enforcement agencies to investigate them. Click here for more information on the FDIC phishing scam.
If you ever receive suspicious e-mails claiming to be from CNB, please notify your local branch office right away.
