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Regions Bank e-mail scam hits locally "Phishing" is the new word for scamming people via e-mails or by telephone. Don and Peggy Wright of Grove Hill learned just how bad it is Tuesday. Don Wright's father, Calvin C. Wright of Choctaw County is elderly and in poor health and Wright has been seeing after his affairs, including an account with Regions Bank that he over- sees via the Internet. "Monday night Peggy was checking e-mail at home and answered one from Regions asking some simple questions," Wright said Monday. When she couldn't answer all of them, she forwarded the e-mail to her husband and when a friend saw it, they told him to delete it that it was a scam. However, the Wrights' computer had already been infiltrated. Tuesday morning, they discovered a large sum of money withdrawn from the elder Wright's account. Don Wright said the bank said they would replace the money but cautioned him, "We do not solicit anybody over the Internet or by phone." In addition, Wright said other personal information, like his and his wife's Social Security numbers, were likely stolen from his computer. A Regions Bank person told him to be wary of all of his future transactions even if the proper steps are taken to secure his financial data. "Rest assured they will try again in about six months," Wright said he was told. Daily newspapers reported in November that Regions Bank customers in Alabama were being targeted. Tim Deighton, a Regions spokesman in Birmingham, said the bogus e-mail directs the customer to a Web site that is exactly like Regions' online banking sign-in page, but does not have www.regions.com in the address line. Deighton confirmed in the dailies' stories that Regions would never solicit personal information via the Web or by phone. The newspaper stories said a Mobile woman reported a call from someone saying they were with Regions and requesting privileged information. Her sophisticated phone system identified the call as a scam and caller ID showed an area code of 702, from the Las Vegas area. The woman said she isn't even a Regions customer. But Deighton said scammers play the law of averages, either via the Internet or over the telephone, often focusing on a popular institution in an area that has many customers. A few years ago an elderly woman in Choctaw County said someone saying they were representing First United Security Bank called her wanting account information. She gave it to them but realized what she had done and immediately went to the bank which changed her account numbers. Anyone who gets e-mail is probably aware of the numerous requests for information such as the Regions scam. Banks that many have never even heard of send requests for information. Other scams come from crooks representing themselves as being with e-Bay or Pay Pal, an on-line payment service. Legitimate e-mails from e-Bay or Pay Pal will reference accurate password information that a customer has supplied as proof of their authenticity. If in doubt about the authenticity of an e-mail, trash it. Do not open it because the Wrights' experience shows what can happen even with a simple opening. Don Wright said he checks his credit reports regularly and he once found another problem that took him some time to rectify. A person with the same name as his in a Monroe County community defaulted on a satellite TV dish and the company tried to stick him with a bad credit reference. It took a lawyer's threat to correct the error, he said.
Wright said this "phisihing" problem may be worse and advised everyone to be careful of strange e-mails.
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