President's Blog; Fall 2021

September 10, 2021

As we are all aware, identity theft and scammers cross our paths daily. It’s important that you pay close attention to your confidential information to avoid a great deal of hassle and potentially a loss of your funds.

On a personal note, I’m the treasurer of our investment club group. We have our funds in a Schwab account so we can do active trading. Everything had worked well until recently, when one of our officer’s identity was hacked and stolen. We then witnessed $2,000,000 swept from this Schwab account, AFTER we had notified Schwab of this intrusion. Our club was able to get the money back, but only after I spent approximately 30 hours on the phone working through this ordeal.

At Silver Lake Bank, our first priority is to protect your money and financial data. We utilize a combination of safeguards and provide continual staff education. What can you do to protect yourself?

• Secure your digital life by using a password manager and don’t reuse passwords. A thief can take a password and username from a data breach and try using them randomly at various institutions.
• Practice safe browsing and don’t click on links in strange emails or text messages.
• Be careful where and how you use a credit card. Don’t give out information over the phone if it feels wrong. Claim your free credit report through all three bureaus annually.
• If you don’t plan on accessing credit soon or often, consider applying a credit freeze making it difficult for a thief to open new accounts in your name.
• Cover your paper trail by shredding documents containing confidential information. You can also sign up for USPS Informed Delivery. The USPS scans your mail and sends you an email with images of the envelopes each day.

Rest assured, we are committed to serving customers both in-person and online. Think of us when you have your next financial need.

Thank you for banking with SLB.

Patrick R. Gideon

President