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SECURITY ALERTS
Important Caution: Phishing Attack
November 16, 2012
Please be advised we have learned of phishing attack directed at our online banking site. The fraudulent activity uses an email, purporting to come from "AmericanWest Bank and attempts to gather personal information. Our Online Banking security team received a copy of the email and immediately identified it as a fraudulent.
Included in the phishing message is the warning “Access to your Online Banking was recently suspended. Due to invalid entry of your Security information” and a link to a near-replica of our online banking login page. Receivers of this email are instructed to enter confidential information such as their user ID and password. The email subject line may be "Your Online Banking has been Suspended."
If you receive an email like this be on alert that it is a scam attempting to gather personal information to commit fraud and possibly identity theft. Please do not follow the instructions and instead immediately delete the message. It is our policy NOT to initiate emails to our customers requiring you to reply to us and provide personal information. If we need to reach you to discuss your account, we will do so using the communication mode you requested when you set up your account, (generally by mail or telephone) which always also includes a security verification. For example, we would not ask you for information we already have on file or information that ONLY YOU should possess, such as your password(s).
This is not a security breach where AmericanWest Bank customer information has been mishandled. We are in the process of shutting down the phishing site. It is likely that this attack is not targeting our customers exclusively, but rather a geographical area.
If you already responded to the phishing email, before learning it was fraudulent: Please contact us immediately so we may assist you in taking the necessary steps to protect your account(s) with us. We can also assist by closely monitoring your Online Banking and Bill Payment activity for signs of potential intrusion. You may reach us at 1-866-766-1338 (Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. MT, and Friday 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. MT) or by contacting your neighborhood Branch.
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