Why is it important to make sure that Arvest has the most reliable and quality information on you? Because your financial safety depends on it.
Bad, old or missing data is more than just an administrative issue; it is a critical weakness that fraudsters actively profit from. Our sophisticated systems, which check your identity and watch your transactions, can only work if your information is correct. Poor data quality creates blind spots that let criminals slip past security checks, impersonate you and steal funds.
Good stewardship of your customer data is a partnership that significantly reduces your risk of financial crime.
Below are three simple tips to help ensure data quality, empower us to better protect and serve you, and prevent fraud.
Be Accurate: Double-Check the Details
Your information must be correct down to the smallest detail. Even small mistakes, such as hyphens, dashes or missing middle initials, can be used by fraudsters to confuse identity checks and attempt to compromise an account.
Pro Tip: Double-check your name, address and other essential details every time you provide them.
Be Consistent: Unify Your Information Everywhere
Your essential details must be identical across all your bank accounts, products and linked services. When your data is inconsistent across different bank systems (e.g., your credit card profile vs. your checking account profile), we lose a 360-degree view of your activity. This broken view allows sophisticated schemes like Synthetic Identity Fraud (combining real and fake data to create a new identity) and Money Muling (linking suspicious small-value transactions across products) to slip through our detection systems unnoticed.
Pro Tip: Update your name, address, phone number and email address everywhere these essential details are stored, for every product you have with us, to ensure uniformity.
Be Current: Keep Information Up-To-Date
Your data must be updated as soon as it changes. Outdated contact data is a key vulnerability in an Account Takeover (ATO) attack. A fraudster who steals old information can use it to pass security questions, change your contact information to their own and lock you out. Outdated data is also used to intercept notifications, such as one-time passcodes, and to create highly convincing phishing or vishing scams.
Pro Tip: Update your contact data immediately when you move, change phone numbers or change your name. This ensures that only you receive critical alerts and notifications.
Actionable Personal Fraud Defense
Being a good data steward means being proactive. Here are four simple steps you can act on today to ensure the accuracy, safety and security of your personal data:
- Monitor Accounts and Set Up Alerts: Actively check your accounts for suspicious transactions. Use our mobile app to set up real-time alerts for large withdrawals, balance changes or any unusual activity.
- Ensure Completeness: When filling out forms or applications, ensure that all requested details are completed. Incomplete records can bypass automated fraud detection systems, leading to missed alerts on illicit activity such as unauthorized peer-to-peer payments (Venmo, Zelle, PayPal).
- Review Your Profile Annually: Commit to a quick, annual review of your customer profile on all banking platforms to verify that your name, contact information and security questions are correct and consistent.
- Know What to Expect from Us: Be vigilant against social engineering. Remember, if someone claiming to be from Arvest contacts you out of the blue, pressures you for personal info, demands that you act quickly or threatens you, it is likely a scam.
Don't respond; instead, contact us immediately at (866) 952-9523 or reportfraud@arvest.com.
