Illinois AG warns of scam using phony websites to target banking customers

CHICAGO (CBS) — Illinois state officers on Thursday warned of a brand new rip-off focusing on banking clients.

The Illinois Division of Monetary and Skilled Regulation and Illinois Legal professional Basic Kwame Raoul issued the warning about faux financial institution web sites that concentrate on shoppers’ private data.

The scammers make the web sites look actual as they trick clients to enter their data to create a checking account. IDFPR has discovered of at the least two such rip-off websites.

“Nobody is immune from on-line scams, so it’s essential that folks shield their private and monetary data from thieves,” Legal professional Basic Raoul mentioned in a information launch. “Take a little bit further time to substantiate that you’re doing enterprise with a respectable firm, particularly when you find yourself sharing delicate data for one thing like establishing a checking account.”

“Nobody in Illinois ought to assume they’re using a software to assist their monetary standing, solely to seek out they’ve put their private data, and their hard-earned cash, in danger,” Chasse Rehwinkel, IDFPR Director of Banking, mentioned within the launch. “As expertise continues to evolve, so do the threats to monetary well-being. We hope that customers proceed to stay diligent about such threats, and that banks help us in serving to preserve them knowledgeable.”

If you’re organising a brand new checking account, it is suggested that you simply go in particular person. If you cannot go to the financial institution, be sure to kind out the financial institution web site – don’t kind the identify of the financial institution by means of a search engine.

You must also be careful for web sites with misspellings or sloppy grammar and poor design.

The Legal professional Basic additionally advises studying opinions of unfamiliar companies to detect scams, and paying for on-line buy with a bank card – on which legal responsibility for fraudulent prices is usually restricted in a means it might not be with reward or debit playing cards. Lastly, warning must be exercised when coming into private data or downloading software program.

Banks that study of an impostor web site are suggested to inform IDFPR’s Division of Banking by emailing IL.Banks@illinois.gov. Banks are additionally requested to think about inserting a discover about such scams on their official web sites.