Fraud and Security Alerts

Don’t Fall for Disaster Fraud

Tuesday Oct. 15, 2024

Criminals and fraudsters are opportunists, preying on people when they’re at their most vulnerable. Communities in the throes of natural disasters like hurricanes or tornadoes provide a breeding ground for scams, stealing money from people in their hour of desperate need.

Why did the Commerce Department ban a cybersecurity company?

Friday Aug. 23, 2024

Earlier this summer, the Commerce Department banned the use of Kaspersky software in the United States because of its potential risk to U.S. national security.

FBI Alert About Common Scams: Resources to Protect Yourself

Friday Jul. 19, 2024

Can you spot a scammer from a mile away? Being familiar with the most common baits keeps you ready to repel fraudsters when they call, email, text or approach you. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has shared the following common scams, offered here in addition to those we’ve covered in previous articles.

Phishers Purchase Stolen DocuSign Logins, then Impersonate Your Business

Friday Jun. 07, 2024

DocuSign is a great tool for managing electronic agreements and contracts with electronic signatures on various devices. Unfortunately, cybersecurity experts have seen an uptick in phishing emails that look very similar to legitimate DocuSign requests but are actually from fraudsters seeking to steal money.

How to Protect Yourself Regardless of Whether You Were Affected by the AT&T Breach

Tuesday Apr. 02, 2024

You have probably seen the news of a significant data breach at AT&T. Compromised data found on the “dark web” includes Social Security numbers (SSNs) for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. Here's our advice to protect yourself, whether you were affected by this breach or not.

Beware of Spoofed Calls

Monday Apr. 01, 2024

Scammers will often "spoof" a phone number when making calls to their potential victims. That means they take a phone number you know and trust -- like your boss, your best friend or even your bank -- and reassign it to a phone they control. Some Pinnacle clients have experienced this. Their caller ID shows the call is coming from Pinnacle, yet it's a scammer on the other end. That's why we want to remind you of some very important facts on how we communicate with you and what you should never do when talking to anyone who claims to be from Pinnacle.

This Email from Pinnacle is Real and Safe to Click

Tuesday Apr. 04, 2023

Pinnacle often advises clients to be very careful about email fraud, particularly phishing attempts that appear to come from a trusted source but actually want to steal your passwords or install malicious software. Because we know you’re cautious, this time we want to give you advance notice of an email that is legitimate and safe that we will soon send to many clients.

Avoid Telephone Scams with These Tips

Wednesday Feb. 01, 2023

Anyone with a phone is familiar with the nuisance of robocalls, unsolicited telemarketing calls and scammers seeking quick cash through a variety of fraudulent claims. Some even pretend to be the FBI, the IRS or law enforcement.

Stay Calm but Vigilant: How to Protect Yourself from Russian Cyber Attacks

Tuesday Mar. 08, 2022

Through both state-sponsored and independent actors, Russia is one of the world’s biggest sources of cyberattacks. Cybersecurity experts are on heightened alert for attacks on government entities, infrastructure targets and private citizens and businesses. What does that mean for you? Do you need to hit the panic button and disconnect entirely? No. Heightened alert is good. Panic is not. Here is what you can do right now.

Fraudulent Attempts to “Digitize” Your Debit Card

Thursday Jan. 06, 2022

Several Pinnacle clients have recently reported attempted fraud on their debit cards from people claiming to represent Pinnacle. Here is how it seems to work.

Emails Appearing to Come “from” Pinnacle

Wednesday Mar. 17, 2021

It has come to our attention that several people have received unsolicited emails appearing to come from Pinnacle Financial Partners. The emails contain bogus transaction information and ask the recipient to check attachments for additional details.

Beware of Fraud After PPP Data Publication

Friday Dec. 11, 2020

The SBA has released a complete and detailed list of all PPP loans and borrowers. Everyone who took a PPP loan should be on the lookout for fraud and unwanted solicitations. The level of detail involved gives scammers all the information they need to create very convincing fraud emails and phone calls. Here's how to outsmart them.

7 Common Scams and How to Avoid Them

Tuesday Oct. 20, 2020

Cons make their living stealing a small amount of money thousands of times, and some get away with hundreds or thousands of dollars at a time. Banks all over the country have seen a dramatic spike in scams and frauds in 2020. Below are just a few of the most common scams we see.

Schemes, scams & fraud on the rise during the COVID-19 pandemic

Wednesday May. 27, 2020

Financial providers and the Secret Service have noted a strong uptick in fraudulent activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. It could be that people have put their guard down because they’re distracted by the anxieties of the day. Or they could be facing deep financial hardship and are therefore more hopeful that a promise to get rich quick will come true. Regardless, a pandemic is the perfect time to remember some very basic tips that will help you avoid fraud.

Beware of These SBA and Pandemic Stimulus Scams

Thursday Apr. 02, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant financial strain for individuals and businesses. Fraudsters are devising scams to take advantage of people and profit illegally at a time when their target victims are particularly vulnerable.

Do I need to put the full year “2020” on my checks and documents?

Wednesday Jan. 22, 2020

You should spell out the entire year in any hand-written documents like checks or legal paperwork, as well as any typewritten documents. Shortening the year to “20” can leave you vulnerable to fraudulent backdating by changing a two-digit “20” intended for the year can easily be changed to “2019” or “2018.”

Windows 7 End of Life Could Mean Security Risks for Your PC

Monday Dec. 23, 2019

Microsoft is ending support for its Windows 7 operating system on Jan. 14, 2020. What does that mean for you? If your computer runs Windows 7, it will still work after Jan. 14. But you will be more susceptible to cyberattack.

Equifax Data Breach: What you need to know to protect yourself

Friday Sep. 08, 2017

Reports on the Equifax security breach indicate that hackers have accessed the personal information of up to 143 million people, including names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers and some driver’s license numbers. We at Pinnacle take this news very seriously. We are working directly with our Equifax contacts to determine how it may have affected our clients.

Popular mSpy Smartphone Parental Control App gets Hacked

Wednesday May. 20, 2015

Brian Krebs of KrebsOnSecurity, who broke the Target and HomeDepot data breach stories, noted a large trove of client personal data has been allegedly taken from app maker mSpy and posted on an anonymous network file sharing system called TOR (The Onion Router). Here are some tips on how to protect yourself.

Merchants: PoSeidon malware targets point-of-sale systems

Friday Apr. 03, 2015

A new Trojan virus program is targeting point-of-sale (PoS) terminals to steal credit card data. The payment card-stealing malware, "PoSeidon," is designed to steal credentials specifically for the widely used LogMeIn application.

Consumer Alert: Beware of Turbo Tax Scams

Friday Feb. 13, 2015

Intuit, Turbo Tax’s parent company, has announced three different email scams that are aimed at Turbo Tax customers.

Business Email Compromise Scams Target Sophisticated Businesses

Friday Feb. 13, 2015

The FBI recently identified an uptick in Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams targeting legitimate businesses. These are sophisticated scams that use the name and correct email address of a current employee to “legitimize” the request. The criminal is able to gain access to a company network and steal money with the help of an unwitting accomplice, an employee who is fooled into submitting a wire request with the fraudster as the beneficiary.

Be Smart with your Smartphone Security

Thursday Jun. 26, 2014

Mobile malware continues to evolve infecting phones using tricks hackers once used on PCs. US and UK Smartphone users are being actively targeted by crooks, locking up their phones through encryption methods and demanding a ransom to unlock them. This mobile Trojan malicious software is called Svpeng and originally evolved in Russia.

Heartbleed Bug FAQ

Thursday May. 01, 2014

The Heartbleed Bug is a vulnerability in the encryption used to secure many websites, putting information, including passwords, credit card information and emails, at risk. Find out how you can help protect yourself.

Merchants: Visa Malware Alert

Tuesday Mar. 18, 2014

Visa has become aware of a variation of payment card-stealing malware referred to as “Chewbacca,” which targets merchant point-of-sale systems. Here are some ways you can protect yourself.

Merchants: MasterCard Phishing Scam

Tuesday Mar. 18, 2014

MasterCard is reporting a scam where merchants are receiving an automated message advising that they have been locked out of their account.

New Tax Scam

Monday Feb. 24, 2014

Fraudsters know that nearly everyone is working to file their taxes by April 15. They're using that knowledge to scam taxpayers out of more money. Find out how.

New Twist On Tech Support Scam

Thursday Jan. 23, 2014

The FTC announced a twist on an old scam: phone fraud paired with a new angle--unsolicited (and fraudulent) tech support services with “follow-up calls” offering a refund on the bogus, unprovided services. The crooks collect bank or credit card information offering to provide a refund for services that never actually occurred.

Phone Credit Phishing Scams

Tuesday Dec. 31, 2013

Many people are receiving phone calls or text messages offering a credit on their phone carrier's account. These are phishing scams targeted at collecting personal information.

Small Business Scam Solicitation

Friday Aug. 16, 2013

Fraud and scams come in a variety of forms, some even through the US Postal Service. Recently, crooks are resorting to posing as the government, requesting documentation and forms from small businesses and a $125 "processing fee" along with your business information.

BillPay Email Scams

Monday Mar. 04, 2013

A number of Pinnacle clients recently reported receiving false emails about adding a new biller to their Online BillPay service - some clients reported that these emails contain links to fraudulent websites. These emails do not appear to be targeted specifically at Pinnacle clients.

FTC Warns Small Businesses About Email Scam

Monday Jan. 14, 2013

The Federal Trade Commission is warning small businesses that an email with a subject line "Notification of Consumer Complaint" is not from the FTC.

High Yield Investment Plan Scams on the Rise

Thursday Jan. 03, 2013

Since December 2012, we've seen a heightened number of High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs) being solicited to Pinnacle clients and friends. HYIPs are unregistered investments created and touted by unlicensed individuals. Many operate as Ponzi schemes.

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