ATTENTION: Our 7807 Airline Drive Branch drive-up is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our lobby is closed until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience.

ATTENTION: Our 7807 Airline Drive Branch drive-up is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Our lobby is closed until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Published:

What is phishing?

Phishing is a particularly popular scam in which a party creates an official-looking web page that asks you to provide your username and password, or other personal information such as your Social Security number, bank account number, PIN number, credit card number, or mother’s maiden name or birthday.

In many cases, you’ll receive a link to this phishing page via an email which claims to come from an official-looking (but probably forged) address. You can also end up at these pages by following links that you find on the web.

What does phishing look like in action?

Here’s an example of a FAKE Metairie Bank website.  There are a few odd things about this site that should tip off a visitor that it’s a scam, starting with the most important part, the URL (or website address).

  1. There is a typo in the URL.  The website address has the letter S after “metairie”.
  2. There is no Favicon image in the tab.  Metairie Bank’s real site has a logo there.
  3. The online banking login button is different.  On the real website, it just says “LOGIN” and drops down for you to enter your info.
  4. The Main Slider Image is broken and doesn’t change.
  5. Also, none of the drop-down menus worked on this website.

TIP: Since a forged URL can look very similar to a genuine one, it’s safer to use a bookmark you’ve created or to type the URL into the location bar by hand instead of following links from your email. This is important for any page where you’re asked to log in or provide private information.
How would this website get my information?

For this example, a user would click on the login box, then they’re taken to a separate page that looks like the one below.  This page looks nothing like Metairie Bank’s actual Login Page, but it can be very convincing.

 

What can I do to help?

If you find a webpage, an email, or any kind of communication that is pretending to be Metairie Bank, report it to us immediately.  Please, call us at 504-834-6330 or email customerservice@metairiebank.com.  You could also report the page to Google here: Google Safe Browsing.

LEARN MORE ABOUT PHISHING