MFA?

    Six federal financial industry regulators teamed up recently to make your accounts more secure.  New supervisory guidance from the government will help all banks strengthen vigilance and make sure that the person signing into your account is actually you.  The new supervisory guidance is designed to make online transactions of virtually all types safer and more secure.  Click here to read more about the important points of Multifactor Authentication and how it effects you.

            Security Federal Savings Bank wants you to be protected.  This includes educating all our customers to be cautious and mindful of cyber crimes and other forms of fraud.  We want all of our customers to know that it is not our policy to call you on the telephone to verify any customer personal banking information (as we already have this information on file).  One exception to this is when a customer calls the Bank first requesting that their Internet Banking Personal Identification Number (PIN) or any other online PIN's be reset.  As an extra security step, we will request your local home or work telephone number and call you back prior to resetting the PIN.  During the follow up call, we will ask you to verify certain banking information to prove that you are the true owner of the account before we reset the PIN.

            Any e-mails the Bank sends to our customers will always be "information only" and will not ask you to verify or input any banking information.  BEWARE of any e-mail asking you to input or verify any banking or personal information (known as "phishing") as these e-mails were not sent by Security Federal Savings Bank.

            Cyber crimes, like phishing, costs consumers, businesses, and the government billions of dollars every year.  While only about 9% of all information breaches involve the use of the Internet, the Federal Trade Commission reports there are already almost 10 million victims of identity theft each year and the potential for fraud grows every day.

            To counteract the growing threat, the Federal Trade Commission maintains OnGuard Online, a web site that has information concerning Identity Theft, Internet Auctions, Spyware, Wireless Network Security, Phishing, Social Networking Sites, SPAM Scams, Online Shopping Security, Peer to Peer (P2P) File Sharing, VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), and Cross Border Scams.

            The OnGuard Online web site includes resources like videos, tutorials, and interactive activities to educate adults and children in the dangers of internet borne thieves and scammers.

Debit Card Fraud Protection

  Around the world, there are just a few foreign countries that the majority of fraudulent debit card transactions are generated from.  As of May 1, 2010 Security Federal will be restricting those countries from the debit card profile to protect you as a cardholder.  After May 1^st, please notify us if you plan to travel abroad and we can release the restrictions for your card for specific countries for the time you will be traveling.  For more information contact our Customer Service Department at 931-473-4483.

MasterCard SecureCode

          You've just won the Tanzania National Lottery!  Even though you've never been there and Tanzania doesn't actually have a national lottery.  If you get an e-mail or a letter with a legitimate looking check, be careful.  You may end up owing your bank a lot of money.  Check scams have been around for a long time, but aren't always as obvious as you may think.  Click here to visit FakeChecks.org and learn all about some of the most popular ones out there right now.

          Thieves can hit you just about anywhere.  The scheme represented in the presentation below is not applicable to Security Federal's ATM's due to our card readers design, but the presentation does show how thieves can rob you of your ATM card and PIN at some ATM's.  Although this is an old presentation (from 2001), it is still one of many effective methods for relieving you of your money.  Click here or on the picture to see the presentation.

(requires Microsoft PowerPoint)

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintains a website specifically geared toward identity theft prevention.  The FTC website is a one-stop national resource to learn about the crime of identity theft to help you deter, detect, and defend against identity theft.  On the site, consumers can learn how to avoid identity theft and learn what to do if their identity is stolen.  Businesses can learn how to help their customers deal with identity theft, as well as how to prevent problems in the first place.  And law enforcement can get resources and and learn how to help victims of identity theft.

  Click here or on the picture to visit the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft website.  You can also click here to visit Security Federal's Customer Awareness page that has other useful information for protecting yourself from other types and forms of fraud.