Fraud

(2025) There is a serious issue out there that affects many people across the country: Social Security scams. At Prevail Bank, we're committed to safeguarding your financial well-being, and that includes helping you stay informed about these deceptive practices. Scammers are constantly changing-up their tactics. We must stay vigilant; we must continually learn and understand how to identify and avoid these schemes.

These scams often involve sophisticated methods...

With tax season upon us, the time for tax phishing and phone scams are too. Below are some tips taken directly from the IRS’ website, including associated links.

Remember, the IRS does not initially (key word is initially) reach out or contact taxpayers by email, text messages, or social media channels. This includes requests for personal identification information, PINS, passwords, or similar access information for credit cards, banks, or other financial accounts.

The holiday season is a time for joy, festivities, and shopping! While online shopping offers convenience, it also comes with risks. Scammers use this busy season to trick people out of their hard-earned money. At Prevail Bank, we want you to shop safely. Here’s how to spot online shopping scams and protect yourself.

Too-Good-To-Be-True Deals: Extremely low prices on high-demand items are often scams. If the price seems...

An account takeover occurs when cyber criminals gain control of your online accounts using stolen credentials. They typically purchase consumer PII (Personally Identifiable Information) from the dark web, which is often sourced from data breaches, phishing scams, or malware. PII includes information like your name, address, email, phone number, date of birth, social media login details, and passwords.

Once a criminal has access to this...

It is so frustrating. You’re trying to contribute to society by finding gainful employment; you have hopes and dreams of a successful career. And just when you think you found an opportunity that is flexible and allows you to work from home…  you’ve been scammed!

Scammers post fraudulent job postings to trick applicants into providing personal information or money. The FBI posted a public service...

For many organizations, consumers are given a choice as to how they wish to receive communications. For many that would be texting.

Texting, from a consumer’s point of view, has its benefits; it’s:

Voice scams (live phone calls, texts, voicemail messages) are typically unsolicited messages that promise or threaten something “big”, and you have a very short time frame to either claim the prize or respond to the alleged problem.  According to a 2023 McAfee Global Scam Study, the most common scams are:

There is a big upward trend in what is called Hybrid Vishing. It’s a type of phishing attack where the cybercriminal typically reaches out to their victims (businesses and private citizens) through email (or text), but instead of a malicious link within the message, they will provide a phone number.

Hybrid vishing emails and texts usually imitate a legitimate invoice, payment confirmations, fraud alerts, account suspensions,...

According to the United States Department of Treasury, an estimated $70 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation.  And it’s becoming more difficult to distinguish between real and fake every day.  Everyone, not just the banks, should know how to identify fake money or counterfeit, because if you knowingly try to pay for goods or services with counterfeit bills, both the Federal government and local State governments...

Imagine a family member offers to buy groceries for an elderly grandparent. The family member uses the grandparent’s debit card to buy groceries while also buying many items for their own personal use with the debit card without the grandparent’s permission.

Now, imagine a person has authorized access to an older friend’s bank account to help pay bills, insurance, and rent, but instead the bills and...