Security Center

Overview

How Golden Valley Bank helps you protect yourself against fraud:

Online Banking

Enroll in Online Banking to conveniently monitor your financial accounts regularly for fraudulent transactions.

Account eAlerts

Stay up to date with account notifications delivered to you via text, push notification and/or email. There are several alert options for you to choose from to stay on top of your account activity.

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Security Tokens

Golden Valley Bank is proud to deliver the highest level of security for our Business Online Banking customers. We offer security tokens as an additional layer of security to our log-in and transaction approval. This helps ensure that your information is secure, protecting you from fraud and identity theft. Contact our Digital Banking team to get set up today at digitalbanking@goldenvalley.bank.

Positive Pay

Positive Pay is a check and ACH fraud prevention tool. Check Positive Pay matches checks presented for payment against a list of checks your company inputs in the system. Checks that are not in the list of authorized checks are presented as an exception to allow you to pay or return. ACH Positive Pay allows you to create rules to authorize specific companies to debit your account via ACH. Items that do not meet the rules are presented as an exception to allow you to pay or return. Check & Account Reconciliation provides an easy way to reconcile your accounts enrolled in Positive Pay.

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Secure Messaging

We use email encryption service that helps us protect outbound email containing sensitive information, such as social security numbers, driver's license numbers, and account information. All emails containing sensitive information between Golden Valley Bank and you will be encrypted. You will be able to receive these encrypted email messages easily through ZixPort.

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eStatements

By opting in for an electronic version of your account statements, you reduce the potential for mail fraud and theft. Log into online banking and select the "Profile" link to sign up.

CardValet^®

CardValet allows you to turn your Business Debit card "on" or "off" anytime. When turned "off", no one can use your cards. Turn them "on" when you're ready to use them. Instantly changing your settings gives you complete control over your Business Debit Card right from our Golden Valley Bank Mobile App. Just click on the “Manage My Cards” link from the Accounts Page.

Security Tips

How to protect yourself from identity theft:

• Never click on a link from an unknown person.
• Don't reply to a possible phishing email.
• Shop with merchants you know and trust.
• Check account statements promptly and report suspicious transactions.
• Shred receipts containing credit card information before discarding them.
• Report lost or stolen cards immediately.
• Be aware of your surroundings when entering your PIN.
• Sign the back of your bank and credit cards.
• Don't leave receipts at the ATM, on shop counters or at the gas pump.

Keep your password and PIN safe

Do not share your GVB Online Banking password or ATM/Debit Card PIN with anyone. Giving your password or PIN to another person or company places your finances and privacy at risk.

Change your password regularly and use a different password than you use for other websites. Make it difficult for others to guess your password by using a combination of letters and numbers in your password. If you think someone knows your password, change it right away.

Your security answers for GVB Online Banking should be unique - do not use security answers that you have used previously on other websites.

Check your statements

It is important to check your statements regularly; a quick check will help identify any erroneous or criminal transactions that might have been performed on your account without your knowledge.

Report Fraud

Direct Deposit and Online Banking

Arrange with your employer to have your salary deposited directly into your GVB account so you can prevent lost or stolen checks. With GVB Online Banking, you can also set up recurring transfers and payments from your GVB account so that your obligations are met automatically.

Look for the lock icon

Before entering personal information on a website, look for the "lock" icon in your browser. A closed lock or padlock indicates that the website you are on is secure. You can also confirm a website is secure by looking for "https" in the website address.

Clear your browser's cache

If you use a public or shared computer with GVB Online Banking, it is vital that you log out when you are finished. Once you have logged out, you should delete the browser's cache. The cache maintains a copy of web pages that have been viewed recently.

Protect your computer from viruses

Protect your computer by ensuring you have an antivirus program installed and that you update it regularly. Most anti-virus programs offer automatic updates to help ensure you are always up to date. Viruses can damage your computer, lead to the loss of your files, and some can capture information from your computer and send it across the Internet to another computer.

Do not open email attachments unless you trust the person or company that sent you the email. Ensure your antivirus program automatically scans your email attachments for viruses.

Use a firewall

When your computer is connected to the Internet, it is vulnerable to "attack" through the Internet connection. You can help protect your computer from attack by using a personal firewall. Personal firewalls can be software, hardware, or both, and create a barrier to attacks.

Install security updates

Most personal computers use the Microsoft Windows and Apple MacOS operating systems. The makers of these systems regularly issue security updates to protect against new and emerging threats. You should download and install security updates regularly or configure your operating system to automatically check for new updates. Ensure you also regularly patch Java and Adobe products. These items are frequently updated because of vulnerabilities and hacker use of those vulnerabilities to install malware on your computer.

Consider using a single computer for your online banking and restrict other users on it.

Beware of email fraud

Be wary of emails that ask for personal information and never provide your personal passwords, personal information numbers or login information for GVB Online Banking.

Beware of identity fraud

Take steps to protect yourself against identity fraud, including protecting your personal information, memorizing your passwords and reporting thefts and losses immediately.

Look for privacy policies on other websites

GVB websites provide links to other websites that are not operated by GVB or governed by GVB's privacy policy or security standards. If you visit one of these websites, you should read their unique privacy and security policies before entering data on those sites.

Additional Resources

• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team
• Consumer Protection Resource Center
• Visit Our Education Center

FAQs

How does phishing work?

Phishing emails are often sent out as spam to numerous recipients and appear to come from legitimate businesses, sometimes even duplicating legitimate logos and text. Within the message, you may be requested to click on a link that takes you to a fraudulent site or pop up window where you are asked to submit personal and financial information. Messages may imply a sense of urgency or immediate risk to bank accounts or credit cards if you fail to answer, increasing the chances of a response. Special offers and prizes may also be promoted as incentives.

What phishers do with your personal information?

Phishers can access your accounts using your passwords and other information to withdraw money or make purchases. Personal information can also be used by phishers to open new bank or credit card accounts in your name.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of a fraudulent email that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. 

What should I look for in a valid message from GVB?

A valid GVB message:

• Personalized Name
• We will never ask for your account number, usernames, or passwords
• You will never be asked to fill out a form with your Bank information
• If you are asked to call a phone number, check the phone number before dialing the number you were given, or check our website.
• Emails will not convey a sense of urgency, we will call you for any account issues

Signs that your message may be a phishing email:

The message below illustrates some of the email components that are not acceptable in a GVB email. In this example, phishers used a valid email name "GVB Contact," but the actual email address itself did not belong to GVB.

• Email address in the "From" field does not contain a valid email address from goldenvalley.bank
• GVB would never ask for you to reactivate your account through an email
• Misspellings
• Branding is poor
• Poor use of grammar
• Wrong URL
• Even though it looks like the URL ("link") displays http://www.goldenvalley.bank, if you right click on the link with your mouse and choose "Properties," it will show you the true link
  • Some scam artists will integrate the brand name into a URL such as http://goldenvalleybank.bankingsecurelinks.org - this makes it look like it is from GVB but is actually going to www.bankingsecurelinks.org which could be a scam site.

If it sounds too good to be true...

It probably is. Don't be conned by convincing emails offering you the chance to make some easy money. As with most things, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

How Golden Valley Bank Protects You

Golden Valley Bank is continuously working to ensure your online security against phishing schemes.

Phishing attacks continue to increase year after year. One industry group, the Anti-Phishing Working Group, claims that the financial services are the most common targets of phishing.

If you receive an unsolicited email that appears to be from Golden Valley Bank or any business with which you do business and the email requests that you click a link and re-enter your personal information or password, you should contact the company directly. Type www.goldenvalley.bank or the business' website address directly instead of clicking the link in the email. If you are unsure of the authenticity of an email, delete it.

At Golden Valley Bank we go to great lengths to protect your personal information and ensure GVB Online Banking is secure. If you ever doubt the legitimacy of any email claiming to originate from Golden Valley Bank, please call us (530) 894-1000.

Golden Valley Bank Email Best Practices

Golden Valley Bank sends:

• solicited emails that respond to customer requests
• welcome emails
• emails that contain information about Bank or Community events, nothing relating to account access or account troubles

Golden Valley Bank does not send emails:

• asking the customer to provide, confirm or update personal records
• from a third party address or link to a third party site
• containing no information about why a customer is receiving email
• requiring an urgent response

What You Can Do

1. Report your abuse. [jump to Report Fraud section]
2. Golden Valley Bank wants to help you stay informed. By knowing how to protect yourself, you can avoid becoming a victim of online scams.

The United States Department of Justice recommends these three steps to defend against phishing schemes: Recognize it, Report it and Stop it.

Report Online Fraud: What You Can Do

If you think you have been a victim of fraud (email fraud, identity theft, phishing, etc.), please contact us immediately via phone (530) 894-1000 or send a secure email.

If you believe someone has obtained your card number and PIN or password, please call us immediately at (530) 894-1000 to report the incident and help prevent fraudulent transactions.

We may ask you for the following information so we can investigate:

• Description of the fraudulent incident.
• Any fraudulent emails you received or anti-virus/anti-spyware scan logs.

Anytime you are a victim of fraud or identity theft, it is important to review and monitor your credit report. You can request a copy of your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com. You may call 877-322-8228 or write to Annual Credit Report Service, P.O. Box 105283, Atlanta, GA 30348-5283. (If electing to request it by mail, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a form available. Each credit reporting agency allows for a credit report once per year, obtain 1 report from one agency, and every 4 months obtain another report from another agency. This allows you to view your credit report every 4 months, rather than just once a year.