Enjoy this holiday season by knowing how to protect yourself from fraud.

There has been a recent nation-wide increase in phishing scams against financial institutions, including those targeting Commerce Bank. Phishing is a type of fraud in which scammers use email, phone calls, or text messages to trick you into providing critical banking information. With phishing scams on the rise, it’s important to recognize the signs as they’re impacting customers of banks across the nation.

Phone numbers are easily spoofed in phishing scams, so it’s crucial to stay vigilant when receiving unsolicited phone calls, even if the caller ID looks familiar. For example, a scammer, calling from a spoofed number pretending to be a bank employee, may advise you that a large transaction has been charged to your debit or credit card. They will ask for card information, Online Banking credentials, and possibly other personal information. They may provide you with a customer support number to call, this phone number is a call back to the scammer, not the bank.

What to do if you think you’ve been contacted by a scammer:

• Hang up. Don’t call them back or call the number they gave you.
• DO NOT PROVIDE any information if you’ve received an email, phone call or text message requesting that you fill out a form or verify your Social Security number, account number, password or PIN.
• Contact Commerce Bank at 800-453-2265 for verification before responding to any such request. If you’ve provided passwords or other account details, please notify us immediately.
• Check all your account(s) to see if there is activity you don’t recognize. If so, please contact us to speak with a representative.
• Report the fraud.

How to report phishing scams

Because Commerce Bank takes the security of our customers' accounts and personal information very seriously, we have a team of experienced staff that is actively uncovering and removing phishing sites that attempt to steal the identities of our customers.

To report a suspicious email or text message that uses Commerce Bank’s name, please forward the email to us immediately at phishing@commercebank.com^† or call us at 800-453-2265. Commerce will never send emails or text messages that ask you to click on a link to activate or unblock your account. If you receive an email or text message with this request, delete the message immediately and do not click on the link(s).

Commerce Bank will never ask for any personal, online banking, payment card or account information including Social Security numbers, account numbers, security questions, PINs, OTPs (One Time Passcodes) for online banking or to establish token pay, email addresses or passwords via email, unsolicited phone calls or text messages. Commerce will also never request you withdraw your funds to protect them. If you’re asked for this information, stop, it’s a scam. Our representatives will never request this, and codes should only be entered online.

At Commerce, we understand that managing your identity is more important than ever. We’re dedicated to giving you tools to fight fraud link to identity theft services page and give you peace of mind. If you have any questions or concerns, contact us. We’re here to help.

• Other types of fraud to watch out for link to identity theft services page
• How to protect yourself from fraud link to identity theft protection page
• What to do if you’re a victim of identity theft link to steps to take if your identity is compromised page
• How to protect your small business link to small business protection page
• What we do to protect the security of your accounts link to security practices page