Arvest Bank issues Internet scam warning

An Internet scam that could empty your bank account. Arvest Bank says someone is trying to rip off their customers' account information with a phony Arvest website. <br/><br/>With no hacking necessary,

Tuesday, May 3rd 2005, 10:15 am

By: News On 6

An Internet scam that could empty your bank account. Arvest Bank says someone is trying to rip off their customers' account information with a phony Arvest website.

With no hacking necessary, scammers send customers an e-mail saying they need to verify their information. The e-mail points customers to a website that looks just like Arvest's, except all your information goes to the con artists.

Arvest had the fake website shut down Monday. But not before several of their customers received the e-mails pointing them to the bogus site.

Arvest said the scammers didn't hack into their customer database. They just sent out a blanket e-mail to thousands of people in the area, hoping to hit Arvest customers willing to give up their personal information.

If you didn't respond to the e-mail, you have nothing to worry about, but you could have big problems if you did. Arvest senior vice president Betsy Gerber: "If they responded to the e-mail, and provided any information, they need to come to one of our branch locations as soon as possible and let us know and let us and track back based on the information they provided, what steps we need to take to help secure their information."

Since the crooks didn't care who got the e-mail, the Arvest scam wound up in the inboxes of a lot of people who don't even bank with Arvest.