Security

Phishing

What is Phishing?

"Phishing", also known as "Brand Spoofing", is the creation of e-mails and websites that replicate existing, genuine websites and businesses. These sites attempt to lead the user to believe that the requests for information are coming from a legitimate source, thereby scamming them into providing personal, confidential information that can then be used to commit other crimes. The most common method of requesting this information is via an e-mail to the user.


What is CWB doing to combat phishing?

CWB and Canadian Direct Financial have introduced security features for your online bank accounts that will provide increased assurance you are conducting your online banking on the legitimate CWB and CDF websites.

These security features are called increased authentication. Increased authentication makes it more difficult for someone to steal your account information through “phishing”.

To learn more about this security feature, click on the “Increased Authentication” page on the left hand side of this screen.


How Do I Avoid a Phishing Request?

There are several ways that you can avoid becoming a victim of a Phishing scam:

  • Do not reply to any e-mail that requests your personal information, especially any PIN's.
  • Look for misspelled words.
  • Most Phishing e-mails will sound urgent in nature, and may even threaten you with your account being frozen if you do not respond.
  • Most Phishing e-mails are not personalized.
  • Avoid embedded links in an e-mail claiming to bring you to a secure site. In some cases, the Phishing site can modify your browser address bar to make it look legitimate.
  • When you log into your online bank accounts, if you do not see the security image and caption you have chosen as a part of the increased authentication security measures, shut down your computer, restart and directly log into the real CWB or CDF website again (www.cwbank.com, or www.cwbdirect.com).

Always remember that no legitimate organization will ever ask you for your PIN.

If you suspect that you have received a Phishing e-mail, contact the organization immediately. In addition, you can report it to: Phishing@cwbank.com