Online Banking Tips

Protect Your Online Accounts

• Monitor your accounts. Regularly make sure all transactions posted to your account are ones you authorized. Report any fraudulent or suspicious activity to the bank.
• Never log on to your Online Banking account through an email. F&M does not include a link to online banking in emails for your account safety. Fraudsters could send an email with a link to redirect you to a fraudulent website designed to steal your user name and password.
  • Never respond to emails that ask you to verify your identity by providing your user name and password.
  • Think twice before clicking on an attachment or clicking on a link within an email.
  • If you are suspicious of an email, don’t be afraid to call the bank to verify whether we sent you the email.
• Look for F&M’s secure website fmstate.bank. F&M’s web address ends in .bank. .Bank websites can not be spoofed as only banks can receive this domain name. The F&M website uses secure https. This means the URL browser line will turn green and have a picture of a lock on it signifying you are using a secure connection.
• Access your accounts from a secure location. Do not use public wi-fi as someone can easily intercept your user name and password when logging on.
• Change your password regularly.
  • Use a strong password.
    • Use a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and characters.
    • Avoid using words or phrases.
    • Avoid using your name, initials, birthdate.
  • Change your password every few months.
  • Keep your password in a safe location.
  • Use a different password for each website you use.
• Protect your computer. Protecting your computer helps protect your accounts.
  • Install anti-virus software.
  • Make sure your firewall is turned on.
  • Install updates to the computer’s operating system as they become available.
  • Run anti-virus scans regularly.