About Us

Identity Theft

Seattle Mortgage will never send unsolicited emails or instant messages, nor make unsolicited telephone calls asking clients to provide, update or verify personal or account information, such as passwords, Social Security numbers, PINs, credit or Check Card numbers, or other confidential information. If you feel you may have exposed your account information, contact us immediately at (888) 500-BANK (2265) or email us at fraud@seattlefinancialgroup.com

Making the security of information a priority

Keeping financial information secure is one of our most important responsibilities. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect customer information. Selected employees are authorized to access customer information for business purposes only. Our employees are bound by a code of ethics that requires confidential treatment of customer information and are subject to disciplinary action if they fail to follow this code.

Guarding your own information

Seattle Mortgage recommends that you take the following precautions to guard against the disclosure and unauthorized use of your account and personal information:

Review your monthly account statements thoroughly and report any suspicious activity to us immediately. Use online banking often to review transactions between statements.
Do not respond to e-mails requesting account numbers, passwords or PINs. Call the institution to verify the legitimacy of the e-mail. No legitimate financial institution would ever ask for this kind of information in an email or unsolicited phone call.
Memorize personal identification numbers (PINs) and refrain from writing PINs, Social Security numbers, debit or credit card numbers where they could be found.
Shred documents containing any sensitive information before discarding, e.g. bank statements, retirement program statements, etc. Consider switching to online statements to avoid mail-related information theft. It is important to know that more identity theft occurs from theft of paper documents than online scams.
Confirm that an Internet site is secure by checking that the URL (Web address) begins with "https." Additionally, check the site security certificate to verify authenticity. You can usually do this by clicking on the padlock icon on the browser window.
Review your credit report at least once every year to make sure all information is up to date. For a free copy of your credit bureau report, contact www.annualcreditreport.com* or call 1.877.322.8228.
If you think you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, you may contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report any incidents and to receive additional guidance on steps you can take to protect yourself. Contact the FTC at www.consumer.gov/idtheft* or call 1.877.438.4338.
If you think your Seattle Mortgage account information may have been exposed, contact us immediately at (888) 500-BANK (2265) or email us at fraud@seattlefinancialgroup.com

Phishing and Other On-line Scams

Your security is important to us. Seattle Mortgage provides tools and resources to help prevent identity theft and educate you on security.

NOTICE: Seattle Mortgage will never send unsolicited emails or instant messages, nor make unsolicited telephone calls asking clients to provide, update or verify personal or account information, such as passwords, Social Security numbers, PINs, credit or Check Card numbers, or other confidential information.

What is "phishing"? (pronounced fishing)

Phishing is a high-tech trick that uses spam or pop-up messages to attempt to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, and/or other sensitive information.

What is "pharming"? (pronounced farming)

Pharming is a hacker's attack aiming to redirect a website's traffic to a phony website. This most often occurs when a hacker gains access to your computer through a virus or Trojan. To help prevent pharming, it is important to run good anti-virus software on your computer.

What is "vishing"?

Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering and "Voice over IP" (VoIP) technology to fraudulently gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward. The term is a combination of "voice" and phishing.

Vishing exploits the public's trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer. The victim is often unaware that inexpensive, complex, automated VoIP systems allows for caller ID spoofing, and anonymity for the bill-payer. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers from individuals or other information used in identity theft schemes.

How To Report Phishing:

We recommend reporting phishing e-mails or spoofed Web sites to the following groups:

Forward the e-mail to reportphishing@antiphishing.org.
Forward the e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov.
Forward the e-mail to the "abuse" e-mail address at the company that purportedly sent the email.
When forwarding spoofed messages, always include the entire original e-mail with its original header information intact. This is best performed by attaching the original email to a new email instead of just using the "forward" function.
Notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their Web site: http://www.ic3.gov*.

What If You Are A Victim of a Phishing Scam:

If you have given out your credit, debit, or ATM card information , we recommend you:

Report the incident to the card issuer as quickly as possible.
Report using toll-free numbers and 24-hour service that many companies have established to deal with such emergencies.
Request your card issuer close your compromised account number and reissue you a new card with a different number.
Monitor your account activity and review account statements carefully after the information loss.
If any unauthorized charges appear, call the card issuer immediately and follow up with a hard copy letter via a traditional delivery service such as the U.S. Postal Service (keep a copy for yourself) describing each questionable charge.

For Credit Card Loss or Fraudulent Charges

Your maximum liability under federal law for unauthorized use of your credit card is generally $50. However, that $50 potential liability may not apply for unauthorized telephone and Internet transactions because there is "no means to identify the cardholder" in those cases.

ATM or Debit Card Loss or Fraudulent Transfers

Your liability under federal law for unauthorized use of your ATM or debit card depends on how quickly you report the loss.
You risk unlimited loss if you fail to report an unauthorized transfer within 60 days after your bank statement containing unauthorized use is mailed to you for transactions made after that 60-day period.

If You Have Given Out Your Bank Account Information

Report the theft of this information to the bank as quickly as possible.
Request your bank close the compromised account and re-open a like account with a different number.

If You Have Downloaded a Virus or 'Trojan Horse'

Some phishing attacks use viruses and/or "Trojan Horses" to install programs called "key loggers" on your computer. These programs capture and send out any information that you type to the phisher, including credit card numbers, user names and passwords, Social Security numbers, etc. If this happens, it's likely you may not be aware of it until you notice unusual transactions on your account.

To minimize this risk, you should:

Install and/or update anti-virus and personal firewall software.
Update all virus definitions and run a full scan.
If your system appears to have been compromised, repair it and then change your password again, since you may well have transmitted the new one to the hacker.
Check your other accounts! The fraudsters may have helped themselves to many different accounts: eBay account, PayPal, your e-mail ISP, online bank accounts, online trading accounts and other e-commerce accounts, and anything else for which you use online passwords.

If You Have Given Out Your Personal Identification Information

If you believe you have given out personal information such as your name, address, and Social Security number to someone who may use it for fraud, contact the three major credit reporting agencies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — and:

Request that the agencies place a fraud alert and a victim's statement in your file.
Request a free copy of your credit report to check whether any accounts were opened without your consent.
Request that the agencies remove inquiries and/or fraudulent accounts stemming from the theft.

Major Credit Bureau Contact Information

Equifax - www.equifax.com*

To order your report, call: 800-685-1111 or write: P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241.
To report fraud, call: 800-525-6285 and write: P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241.
Hearing impaired call 1-800-255-0056 and ask the operator to call the Auto Disclosure Line at 1-800-685-1111 to request a copy of your report.

Experian - www.experian.com*

To order your report, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742) or write: P.O. Box 2002, Allen, TX 75013.
To report fraud, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742) and write: P.O. Box 9530, Allen, TX 75013. TDD: 1-800-972-0322.

Trans Union - www.transunion.com*

To order your report, call: 800-888-4213 or write: P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022.
To report fraud, call: 800-680-7289 and write: Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634 TDD: 1-877-553-7803.

More Identify Theft Resources

These web sites offer excellent additional resources, including common scams, forms and resources in the event you feel you have been a victim of identity theft, complaint filing, and more:

Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/*
Example Scams: http://www.identity-theft-help.us/*
What to do resources: http://www.identitytheft.org/*
Department of Justice: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fraud/websites/idtheft.html*
Internet Crime Complaint Center: http://www.ic3.gov*

Additional Actions to Take

If bank accounts were set up without your consent, close them.
Contact your local police department to file a criminal report.
Contact the Social Security Administration's Fraud Hotline to report the unauthorized use of your personal identification information. For current details and additional information, visit the SSA Fraud Hotline web page at http://www.ssa.gov/oig/hotline/*

Telephone: 1-800-269-0271 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
TTY: 1-866-501-2101 for the deaf or hard of hearing.
U.S. Mail: Social Security Fraud Hotline
P.O. Box 17768
Baltimore, Maryland 21235
FAX: 410-597-0118

Notify the Department of Motor Vehicles of your identity theft.
Check to see whether an unauthorized driver's license number has been issued in your name.
Notify the passport office to be on the lookout for anyone ordering a passport in your name.
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Ask for a free copy of "ID Theft: When Bad Things Happen in Your Good Name," a guide that will help you guard against and recover from your theft — and guard against it in the future. The FTC web site is an excellent resource for identity theft related information: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/index.html*
File a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) by visiting their Web site: www.ic3.gov*. IC3 is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), with a mission to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud, the Center provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation.
Document the names and phone numbers of everyone you speak to regarding the incident. Follow up your phone calls with letters. Keep copies of all correspondence.

Practice Safe Computing

The number and sophistication of phishing and spoofing scams sent out to consumers is continuing to increase dramatically. While online banking is widely considered to be as safe as or safer than in-branch or ATM banking, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. Remember, no reputable financial institution will ever request your personal information via e-mail or from an unsolicited phone call. Here is a list of recommendations to follow in order to avoid becoming a victim of scams:

Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information. Phishers have been known to include upsetting or enticing (but false) statements in their e-mails to get people to react immediately. More recently, some phishers have toned down their language, as e-mail recipients have become more aware of the use of this tactic. In both cases, the e-mail typically asks for information such as user names, passwords, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc.
Be careful of e-mails that are not personalized and/or may contain spelling errors and/or awkward syntax and phrasing. Many phishing e-mails are sent in great bulk and, therefore, are not personalized. If you are suspicious of an e-mail claiming to be from your institution that is not personalized, call your institution before responding. Many also are being sent from other countries from individuals for whom English is not their first language, sometimes resulting in misspelled words and awkward syntax and phrasing.
Be careful of personalized e-mails that ask for personal financial information. Be suspicious of any e-mail that contains some personal financial information, such as a bank account number and asks for other information, such as a PIN. Your bank will never ask for or send you personal financial information by e-mail.
Do not use links in an e-mail to get to any Web page. Instead, call the bank on the telephone to confirm the address, or log onto the Web site directly by typing in the Web address in your browser.
Do not complete forms in e-mail messages that ask for personal financial information. Your financial institution would never ask you to complete such a form within an e-mail message.
Only communicate information, such as credit card numbers or account information, via a secure Web site or the telephone. When submitting financial information to a Web site, look for the padlock or key icon at the bottom of your browser, and make sure the Internet address begins with "https." A secure Web server designation can be found by checking the beginning of the Web address in your browser's address bar — the address should begin "https://..." rather than just "http://..." While you cannot be completely sure that a Web site is secure when its address starts with "https," you can be sure the Web site is not secure when it does not start with "https." Check the site security certificate to verify authenticity.
Regularly log on to your online accounts and check your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate. One of the real advantages of banking online is being able to regularly review your account for unauthorized or unusual activity. If anything is suspicious, contact your bank and all card issuers immediately.
Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied. Always visit your browser's home page to download the latest security updates even if they don't alert you to do so.
Use online statements to reduce the volume of paper mailed. Paper is the cause of more actual instances of identity fraud than are electronic thefts.

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