Fraud Best Practices & Resources

Atlantic Union Bank will never call, text or email you and ask that you provide your Social Security number, account information or PINs / passwords / one-time codes.

• Closely monitor your accounts for unusual transactions. If something doesn't seem right, please call us immediately at 800.990.4828.
• Make sure that your contact information is correct and up to date. We will contact you if we suspect fraud, so accurate information is necessary.
• Keep the operating systems on your phone and computer up to date—software updates often contain critical security upgrades.
• Create strong passwords and PINs that avoid easy to guess dates, names and phrases.
• Use multi-factor authentication to access your devices as well as apps that contain sensitive information.
• Be very wary of unsolicited emails and if you receive a communication from us, please review the email address. Fraudsters will create both websites and email addresses that are just one or two letters off and look very similar to authentic communications.
• Switch from paper to eStatements as this reduces the opportunities for someone to steal your information.
• Set up account alerts to let you know about unusual activity in Online and Mobile Banking.

Never provide account information or other sensitive information to anyone over the phone, text or email, especially if you did not initiate the conversation. Atlantic Union Bank will never contact and ask you for this information. If you receive a call or other type of communication that you believe is suspicious, please call us at 800.990.4828.

Check fraud takes different forms, including:

Forgery — Either by completely faking a check or check washing, when a fraudster uses chemicals to “wash” key information from a real check to replace with their own.

Check Kiting — Writing a check for an amount greater than what is in the account at another bank.

Mule Scam — This type of fraud is on the rise and has been targeting young adults on social media. The scammer offers to pay the victim to use one of their photos. The fraudster pays by check, but for a larger amount than agreed to. The criminal asks the victim to take the overage and send it to the artist for supplies. This is a scam and by the time you realize what happened, you'll have lost the money you sent.

How to Protect Yourself

• Always closely monitor your bank account for unusual activity.
• Do not leave letters or bills containing a completed check in your mailbox; instead, drop it off at the post office.
• Move away from using checks altogether through resources available on Online or Mobile Banking.

Peer-to-peer, or P2P, payments are electronic money transfers between individuals, and examples include Zelle®, Venmo, Cash App and PayPal. Peer-to-peer scams typically involve impersonation calls, pretending to be an official of some sort from the government or a bank or other reputable entity. They use spoofing services to trick your caller ID as well, so don't trust that either.

How to Protect Yourself

Never send money to someone you don’t know. A bank will never call and ask for you to send money via a P2P service. If you are ever unsure, simply hang up, call the bank directly and confirm the information.

Prevention is the key since it is very unlikely that you will recover money lost via a P2P scam, so be vigilant. If you suspect you are a victim, contact your bank and local authorities immediately.

Phishing is when fraudsters trick a victim into sharing account login credentials or other sensitive personal information. The ways in which this happens, though, are expansive and include:

Emails – Fraudsters will send a convincing email that appears to be from an individual or company you trust, like your bank. The email will look similar to an official email and will ask that you click on a provided link to verify your account information. There is usually a sense of urgency included, either the threat of a fine or cancellation that urges the victim to respond without thinking.

Calls and texts – Similar to the emails, these are impersonation attempts by fraudsters pretending to be someone you know well, like your boss, or a company you trust, like your bank.

Fake Ads – Search engines also are home to fraudsters found mainly amongst the ads. Criminals create landing pages meant to look very similar to an official one for a company and then create search engine ads so that their site appears at the top of the search results. When the victim searches and then clicks on the fraudulent link, that’s when the fraudsters can start harvesting information.

QR Codes – Referred to as Quishing, attackers embed malicious links in QR codes distributed via email, printed materials and even video conferences. When scanned, these direct the victim to fake sites that steal data or deliver malware. Quishing can bypass traditional email security since QR codes often appear harmless—making it a fast-growing threat.

How to Protect Yourself

• Always closely monitor your bank account for any unusual activity.
• Never provide sensitive information to a stranger via phone, text or email unless you started the conversation. Banks will never call and ask for your account number, login credentials or one-time passcodes, so be wary of anyone who does.
• Do not access web sites you frequent often by performing a search engine query. Instead go directly to the site itself. If you do enter via search engine, hover your mouse over the hyperlink to see the address and confirm that it is accurate. Pro tip: Save the sites you visit most often to your Bookmarks and access them in a way that’s easy and secure.
• Never click links or open attachments in emails from people you don’t know and be wary of ones from people you do know as they could be a phishing attack.
• Regularly change your login credentials for every site where you have them and be sure not to repeat the same combination on multiple sites.

These scams occur when a fraudster tricks a victim into sending them money directly from their bank account. This can happen in a number of ways, either through a dating app in which the fraudsters gain the victim’s trust over time, someone claiming to need money due to a family emergency or someone claiming that the victim has won a prize, but must send money for processing.

How to Protect Yourself

• Do not wire money to anyone you don't know or anyone who says wire transfer is your only payment option. Also, no government entity or your bank will ask you to send money via wire transfer.
• If you suspect you are a victim of wire transfer fraud, contact your bank and local authorities immediately.
• Never pay for a prize. If you have truly won either a sweepstakes or a contest, payment should not be a requirement.

Smishing is a type of phishing attack that uses SMS (text) messages to trick victims into revealing important sensitive information. The messages appear to be from someone you trust and may even include elements or urgency of fear.

How to Protect Yourself

• Always closely monitor your bank account for any unusual activity.
• Never provide sensitive information to a stranger via text. Banks will never call and ask for your account number, login credentials or one-time passcodes, so be wary of anyone who does.
• Never click links in texts from people you don’t know and be wary of those from people you do know as they could be a social engineering attack.

Two tactics to be aware of are ATM skimming and jugging.

Criminals use a practice known as ATM skimming to obtain credit and debit card information by installing hidden recording devices on ATMs or other payment terminals. This is done either by installing a plastic overlay on the keypad which captures your PIN or a device over the card insertion slot allowing them to obtain the data from the card's magnetic strip.

How to Protect Yourself

• When available on ATMs, use the contactless feature on your card to access ATMs.
• Avoid ATMs or payment terminals that look damaged or have loose or missing parts.
• Pay attention to whether the ATM card reader looks different than normal.

Jugging is when a criminal or group of criminals watches and then follows victims after visiting a bank or ATM. The criminal threatens the victim, many times with a weapon, stealing their cash.

How to Protect Yourself

• Try not to be distracted while visiting a bank or ATM, including by your phone.
• Lock your car doors when you get into your vehicle.
• Be aware of any vehicles that are backed into parking spots and notice if any vehicles follow you out of the parking lot.
• Only use ATMs that are well-lit or in highly-trafficked areas.

Spear phishing is a highly targeted form of phishing that involves carefully crafted messages sent to specific individuals or organizations. The goal is to get them to reveal sensitive personal information, like account access credentials. What makes this form of phishing unique is that it involves substantial social engineering and research by the fraudsters against specific targets.

How to Protect Yourself

• Be wary of communications from people you don't know, especially if there's a sense of urgency involved.
• Check email addresses and domains for any errors to make sure they're authentic.
• Never send money to people you don't know. Be wary of sending money to people you do know.
• Banks will never call, email or text and ask for sensitive account information. If you're in doubt, hang up and call us directly.

Fraud among older Americans is a major problem. In 2024, the FBI reported that victims over 60 lost $4.9 billion to fraud and scams.¹ With this in mind, it is especially important to be aware of scams targeting older individuals. These scams are normally phishing or confidence scams and seek to take advantage of an individual’s isolation. The best way to prevent these scams is through education and by ensuring that the older individual has the appropriate professional advice for managing their finances.

Learn more about elder financial abuse on our Senior Fraud Resources webpage.