Bank of Ann Arbor is pleased to be a collection location as part of the Ann Arbor Rotary Club's annual Rotate Your Food drive, March 12-23.  Donations of non-perishable food items may be dropped off at Bank of Ann Arbor offices in Ann Arbor, Saline and Ypsilanti.  Food donations will be used by Food Gatherers to provide for the needs of our community.  Help out today, if you can.

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This week, it's IT administrators that are specifically targeted with a phishing attack. The bad guys know very well that the most powerful weapons are administrator's credentials, as those really are the keys to the kingdom. So, what they are using is the instantly famous report that Mandiant wrote about the Chinese military hacking into 141 mostly U.S. businesses. An infected PDF version of the original report, titled "APT1: Exposing One of China's Cyber Espionage Units, is now being used as spear phishing bait to get IT people to open it up using two fake names: Mandiant.pdf and Mandiant_APT2_Report.pdf The infected document leverages a just-patched hole in Adobe Reader and was first spotted in Asia. Keep your eyes peeled for it hitting your own inbox. In the meantime, the actual report is fascinating reading, and you can find it here at the Mandiant website: http://intelreport.mandiant.com/.

Source: Cyberheist News,  www.knowbe4.com

Note: links to third party sites are provided for your convenience.  Bank of Ann Arbor does not control their content.

Wednesday, February 27: It may be a snow day for the kids but all Bank of Ann Arbor offices are open as usual. Stop by any one of our seven locations for a friendly smile and a warm handshake.

All Bank of Ann Arbor offices are open on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 18.  Stop in to see us.  Transactions will be posted to your account on Tuesday, February 19 as the Federal Reserve is closed for the holiday.

Bank of Ann Arbor is aware of a text message phishing scam that may lead you to believe your Debit/ATM card has been deactivated. Please know that we do not send unsolicited text message alerts. The most recent phishing scam is tricky in that it requests you to call a phone number to activate your card and the phone number noted has a 734 exchange leading you to believe it is local. If you believe you are a victim of this scam, in that you have called the number and entered your card information please call 1-800-528-2273 and request that your card be cancelled.

Be wary of those who come bearing gifts. The most recent credit card scam works like this:

A phone call from someone who says that he is from some outfit called: "Express Couriers" asking if someone was going to be home because there is a package, and the caller says that the delivery would arrive at your home in roughly an hour. And sure enough, about an hour later, a delivery man turns up with a beautiful basket of flowers and wine. What a surprise for you (especially if there is no special occasion or holiday), and no-one certainly expects anything like that! Intrigued you ask who the sender is. The deliveryman's reply was, he is only delivering the gift package, but allegedly a card is being sent separately; (the card never arrives). There is also an official looking ‘consignment’ note with the gift. He now goes on to explain that because the gift contains alcohol, there is a $3.50 ‘delivery charge’ as proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult, and not just left it on the doorstep to just be stolen or taken by anyone. Sounds logical doesn’t it? You offer to pay cash but he tells you that the company requires the payment to be by credit or debit card only, so that no ‘cash’ is exchanged and everything is properly accounted for. You take out your (or your husbands) credit/debit card and the "delivery man" asks you to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which has a small screen and keypad where you now enter the card's PIN and security number. A receipt is printed out and given to you. 

Next week you will find that money has been charged/withdrawn from your credit/debit account at various ATM machines all over the country. It appears that the "mobile credit card machine" which the deliveryman carried now has all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all your card details, after you have swiped the card and entered the requested PIN and security number. 

Please be aware of this most recent scam and share this information with your family, friends, and neighbors. Any suspect description or suspect vehicle information should be reported to your local police agency.

The IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center) continues to receive complaints reporting telephone calls from individuals claiming to be with Tech Support from a well-known software company. The callers have very strong accents and use common names such as "Adam" or "Bill." Callers report the user's computer is sending error messages, and a virus has been detected. In order to gain access to the user's computer, the caller claims that only their company can resolve the issue.

The caller convinces the user to grant them the authority to run a program to scan their operating system. Users witness the caller going through their files as the caller claims they are showing how the virus has infected their computer.

Users are told the virus could be removed for a fee and are asked for their credit card details. Those who provide the caller remote access to their computers, whether they paid for the virus to be removed or not, report difficulties with their computer afterwards; either their computers would not turn on or certain programs/files were inaccessible.

Some report taking their computers to local technicians for repair and the technicians confirmed software had been installed. However, no other details were provided.

In a new twist to this scam, it was reported that a user's computer screen turned blue, and eventually black, prior to receiving the call from Tech Support offering to fix their computer. At this time, it has not been determined if this is related to the telephone call or if the user had been experiencing prior computer problems.

Bank of Ann Arbor is pleased to announce the opening of its downtown Saline, Michigan office, its seventh banking center.  Longtime Saline resident, Walt Byers has been named Saline District President.  Shelley Rankin, an active community supporter, has been selected as Branch Manager.   

The Saline Chamber of Commerce will conduct an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 11:30am.  The public is welcome to attend.

Bank of Ann Arbor completely gutted and remodeled a former Bank of America building at 179 E. Michigan Avenue, which was vacated when they moved to the outskirts of Saline. The new office features sit-down teller stations and a cybercafé with complementary coffee from Saline’s Drowsy Parrot. The hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:00am to 5:00pm, Friday 9:00am to 6:00pm and Saturday 9:00am to Noon.  The phone number is 734-470-5001.

“We are excited to bring the personal service that Bank of Ann Arbor is known for to businesses and residents of Saline,” said Timothy Marshall, President and CEO, Bank of Ann Arbor. “The design of this banking center is similar to our Ellsworth and Traver Village offices because it reflects the warmth and professionalism of the service our clients will receive from Shelley and her team.   The traditional branch with teller cages and dark paneling has been replaced with a light, open environment that invites people to linger, ask questions and learn grow Saline and the surrounding areas."

All Bank of Ann Arbor offices will be closed on Monday, January 21, 2013 in observance of the federal holiday, Martin Luther King Day.  We will reopen at usual times on Tuesday.  ATMs and Online Banking will still be available 24/7.