Security Information & Alerts

Review best practices to help you protect your private information.

 

Beware of Scam Phone Calls, Texts & Emails

Scammers may try to cheat you out of your money or gain access to your accounts or through suspicious or scam phone calls, texts, or emails. Please be aware and be careful in all your interactions.

Here are some examples of current scams we have heard about:
  • family member is in jail and needs money wired for “bail”
  • being threatened with arrest from the following places
    • local police department
    • IRS
    • failing to report for jury duty
  • receiving notice of past due invoices, such as Microsoft, Norton, McAfee, PayPal that you typically do not use or no familiarity with ordering
  • scammers posing as bank asking for digital banking information or other personal information

Here are some tips to keep in mind to protect yourself and your money:
  • Do NOT click on any links or open any attachments in emails that you were not expecting.
  • Never give out confidential information including SSN, bank account number, your digital banking credentials over the phone or via text or email.
  • Be leery of requests from people or entities demanding that they need to receive gift cards to pay a debt or obligation.

If you receive a suspicious phone call claiming to be from Northeast Bank, please request the name of the caller and hang up and call us back at our main office: 612-379-8811 and we can connect you to the appropriate department if it was a legitimate caller. You are also welcome to call and request to speak with our Fraud Investigator, Jayde, who is available to discuss situations with you.

Please check out these additional tips from the Federal Trade Commission at consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-to-avoid-scam

  • Keep your contact information updated. Please ensure that we have you accurate, up-to-date information in our systems so that the Bank or our Fraud Center can contact you if we notice any suspicious transactions.
  • Notify the Bank if you will be traveling. To limit fraud exposure, we may place transaction blocks on certain swiped transactions in certain geographic locations depending on fraud patterns. Also if you have transactions attempted from a new state or country, they may be flagged as potentially fraudulent. Please notify us of your travel plans so we can note your card accordingly. This will avoid any unnecessarily blocked transactions.
  • Respond to our Fraud Center. Our Fraud Center uses actionable emails, texts and automatic phone calls to expedite the identification of fraudulent card transactions. If you are contacted by our Fraud Center, please respond directly to them in a timely manner to confirm if the identified transaction(s) is fraudulent.
US-CERT and the IRS caution users to remain aware of phishing attempts to obtain sensitive data, credentials, and payment information. For more information on the threats, please review US-CERT Security Tip (ST 15-001). 
Beware of a new scam involving con artists asking you to pay them with gift cards. In some cases, scammers pretend to be a loved one, or a government agency, saying they need payment by gift card. They will often ask you to go to a local store to purchase a specific gift card, like iTunes. If anyone calls you and says you need to pay them with a gift card, hang up the phone immediately- it is a scam.
For Northeast Bank online banking the current and prior major releases of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome are supported. When a new version is announced as Release to Web (RTW), support will cease on the third-oldest major version.

Please note that utilizing older browsers may result in disabled functionality or limited access to services.

To maintain the highest security standards and promote the protection of your data, we occasionally need to make security improvements and retire older encryption protocols. Beginning in April 2018, only browsers using TLS protocol version 1.2 and higher will be supported.
The following information can help you protect your information when using our online services. While Northeast Bank maintains the highest level of security on our systems, we are not responsible for any breach of security that is beyond our control. The following are suggestions to help protect you online on your computer or mobile device.

Online Banking Security Tips:

  • Do not share your Northeast Bank online banking login information with anyone else. If you think your information has been compromised, change your password immediately and call us at 612-379-8811.
  • Choose a hard-to-guess password. Do not use words that can be found in a dictionary or information related to you, such as your name, address, birth date, etc.
  • Disable auto-complete or similar features on any computer you use for online banking.
  • Do not write down your password or reveal it to anyone.
  • Remember to log out when you are finished banking online or are leaving the computer unattended.
  • Avoid using unfamiliar computers to conduct any online banking, as they may be compromised.
  • Avoid using regular email to share information about your account with Northeast Bank, use our secure email service instead.
  • Use account activity alerts to notify you of account transactions and balances.
Our mobile banking and mobile deposit services utilize best practices from online banking, such as HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), 128-bit multi-layer encryption, password or multi-factor authentication access, and application timeout when your phone is not in use. In addition, no account data is ever stored on your phone and if your phone is lost or stolen, you can restrict access to your account by resetting your Online Banking credentials online or by calling us at 612-379-8811.

Mobile Banking Security Tips:

  • Lock your device with a password or PIN when it is not in use.
  • Use strong account passwords with at least one number and capitalized letter.
  • Do not use your name, birth date or other easily identifiable personal information.
  • Do not store personal information including your User IDs and passwords on your phone or send them via email or text messages which could be intercepted.
  • Only download applications from trusted sources. Make sure to download updates regularly, as updates often fix security flaws.
  • Do not enter personal information unless there is an "s" after http, which indicates the site is secure. Also look for security symbols like the lock icon.
  • Do not bank or shop online when using unsecured, public Wi-Fi access.
  • Do not click on any links in emails claiming to be from Northeast Bank. Instead go to the Bank website directly and/or type the URL into your browser.
  • Always log off completely after using Mobile Banking.

General Computer Security Tips:

  • Keep your system and software current with updates from vendor websites. For example, use the Windows® update feature and install any critical updates and service packs that are available. Make sure you have the latest versions of all software applications.
  • Use virus and spyware protection software and keep it up-to-date in order to detect and block new threats.
  • Use a software or hardware firewall to protect your computer from network intrusions.
  • Make sure that any wireless network to which you connect your computer is secure and requires data encryption.
  • Do not download files, install software or open email attachments from unverified or unknown sources.
  • Beware of pop-ups. Watch out for sudden pop-up windows asking for personal information or warning of a virus.
  • Be a little suspicious. A very large number of attacks rely on simple social engineering. Ask yourself next time you receive an email claiming you have won an iPad or received a FedEx package — is this probably real? Would it happen to me walking down the street? Scams today are not all identifiable by poor grammar and spelling mistakes, as they once were.
  • Be wary for phishing emails which may appear to be sent from the bank but are really from criminals trying to get your personal information. Never click on embedded links if you are suspicious; instead, type the URL directly into the browser or contact your bank to verify the authenticity of the email.




IMPORTANT: Northeast Bank will never solicit your personal information by phone, auto-dialer, text message, email or providing links within an email requesting that you update your information.
  • You will not receive any email notification asking you to click a link to unlock your account unless it was requested by you through the online banking password self-reset feature.
  • You will not receive any email or text notification directing you to provide any private information unless it was requested by someone else you know sending you a payment through our Person-to-Person (P2P) payment service. If someone you know is sending you a P2P payment for the first time, they should inform you and provide you with a unique keyword that is required to authenticate before you enter any information.
  • Our Fraud Center may contact you by auto-dialer, text message, or email if they suspect there may be a fraudulent transaction(s) on your account but they will only ask you to confirm whether the transaction was fraudulent not to provide personal information.
If you receive an email or phone call requesting confidential information from someone claiming to represent Northeast Bank, please do NOT respond. 
Emails from Northeast Bank:
As a Northeast Bank customer, you may receive emails from mailboxes @nebankmn.com such as "feedback" or "eservice". These emails may invite you to participate in a survey and/or to communicate important information about our products and services or security to you. These emails may contain links to places on our website, our survey platforms (Delighted or SurveyGizmo) and/or our online training portal. These links will not ask you to enter any confidential information. Any emails from Northeast Bank will have contact information in them to direct you to whom to contact if you have any questions about the email.
 
NOTE: Northeast Bank's domain is nebankmn.com. Again, do NOT respond to any emails claiming to be from Northeast Bank with a domain ending in .net, .org, or any other domain extension. If you receive any suspicious emails, please notify your banker.