Having convenient digital tools to conduct banking and send money can make life easier—and comes with an extra responsibility. Scammers also use online and digital services in their schemes, so it’s essential to know and practice these habits to avoid becoming a victim. 

Protect your Interac e-Transfer® from being intercepted

Interac e-Transfer is a popular method for sending money given its convenience to quickly send money to anyone in Canada. Use this service responsibly because once the funds are sent, the transaction is final. You cannot retract an Interac e-Transfer after it’s been deposited. While Interac e-Transfer uses a number of security measures, including encryption technology and secure login processes, money can still fall into the wrong hands in one of the following ways:

• Entering incorrect contact details for the recipient.
  • Always: Carefully review that the name, email address, and/or phone number you’ve entered are a match to the intended recipient. If the recipient has Autodeposit enabled, you'll see their full legal name. If the legal name doesn’t match your contact, don’t send the funds. There is a possibility the e-Transfer could be intercepted by an unintended party.

• Using easy-to-guess security questions.
• Always: Use unique questions that can’t be answered through common knowledge or information shared on social media. And only send the answer to the recipient using a different method then the Interac e-Transfer® itself. For example, if the e-Transfer is sent via email, provide the answer to the recipient via a telephone call or text message.

We recommend: Setting up Autodeposit to eliminate the need to manually deposit funds and reduce the opportunity for fraudsters to intercept the Interac e-Transfer®.

• The recipient’s email has been compromised, letting criminals monitor the account for notifications from Interac, allowing them the opportunity to redirect the funds into a different account.
  
  
• Always: Have two-step verification activated on your email and any online account.

More ways to protect your email and online accounts: 

• Be wary of unknown links in an email or text message. Instead of clicking, use a web search to try and find the information directly. If you receive an unexpected message directing you to click or download, delete it and follow these steps to report phishing.

• Never divulge a PIN, personal access code (PAC), or two-step verification (2SV) code to anyone. We will never call asking for this information.

• Don’t trust unexpected messages that contain urgent requests or demands.
• Change your email passwords frequently, using a unique combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters for each account.
• Carefully check the spelling of links to ensure it comes from our website—better yet, bookmark valleyfirst.com and always use the bookmarked site to navigate to online banking.
• Ensure you have the most up to date version of your antivirus software installed on your computer.

• Watch for unexpected behaviour on a website—such as additional security questions, multiple login requests, and browser messages stating the site is not secure.
  
  
  

Be fraud aware 

As your financial institution, we are dedicated to helping you understand how you can protect yourself from fraud. If you suspect you've been a victim of fraud, please contact us right away.