Fraud Prevention Tips Over the Holidays

The holidays are a time of good will and gift giving, but they are also an active season for fraud and identity theft.  One of the most common forms of identity theft is fraudsters stealing debit and credit card information. Unfortunately, many people do not even know they have been defrauded until they are called by their financial institutions, thus these scammers have a lot of time to get away with the act.
 
Your EMV chip card is extremely difficult to copy and replicate the data on the chip. However, this has led to most of the scamming being done online. Huron Valley State Bank has some measures already put in place to protect your identity.  Your debit card has a system in place to alert you of potential fraud. When something suspicious is detected, you will receive an automatic email notification, with the option to reply with "fraud" or "no fraud" through a secured link. One minute after the email, you will receive a text alert, which also has the "fraud" or "no fraud" option. If there is no response received, you will then receive automatic phone calls to confirm or deny fraud. If you confirm fraud, you will be connected to a fraud analyst.

For Debit Card Protection

There is an additional level of security available to you through our free Guardian SMS text alert program for your debit card. Once you are enrolled, you will receive an alert after the following activity:

    Purchases greater than $300
    Purchases that occur out of state
    5 or more transactions in 24 hours
    Fuel or service station transactions

If the transaction is legitimate, you need not reply. If it is fraudulent, you may reply by text and your card will be blocked from further activity. To enroll in this additional layer of fraud detection click here.

You will need to provide your card number, last four digits of your social security number and zip code. Then you will be asked to send a text message from your phone to opt-in to the service. This opt-in is a crucial part of the process to communicate to the fraud center that you wish to receive alerts.

You may discontinue the receipt of Alerts by texting the word STOP in reply to a Guardian Alert.

*Message and data rates may apply.

For Credit Card Protection
 
There is also a text alert program for your Huron Valley State Bank credit card. By signing in to your Elan account and providing your mobile number, it will automatically setup the fraud alerts.

Upon a suspicious transaction, Elan can send a text message to the mobile device asking if the transaction is legitimate while placing a temporary block on the card.

As a card member, you can then reply yes or no. If it is legitimate, the block is immediately removed and you can continue to use your card.

        Login to your Elan account
        Click on profile
        Select update contact information
        Answer the security question
        Verify the information
        Enter your mobile number
        Select as the "preferred method"
        Review the information for accuracy
        Submit

At Huron Valley State Bank we take pride in protecting your identity and keeping your accounts secure.  If your card is ever comprised please call us immediately at 248.684.9626.