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For Your Benefit
This section of Mutual Benefit Group's Web site is posted for
your benefit. It includes the latest news from MBG, including
new products, pricing, service options, articles featuring safety
tips for home, highway, and business, and links to other sites
that will provide you with valuable information on insurance,
health and safety topics. Check back often for updates.
Press Releases:
MBG honors two Inner Circle members
Mutual Benefit Named Among ‘Best Places to Work’
Consumer Articles:
Education and Action Are the Keys
to Staying Safe Online
Links to Insurance, Health, and Safety Tips:
INSURANCE-RELATED SITES:
Advocates
for Highway and Auto Safety
Join the coalition to improve highway and auto safety through
public policy.
Coalition
Against Insurance Fraud
Learn how to avoid being victimized by insurance fraud.
IIHS (Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety)
Crashworthiness evaluations, fatality facts, and more! A must
read before you purchase a car.
NAMIC (National
Association of Mutual Insurance Companies)
Learn more about the industry to which Mutual Benefit belongs.
AICPCU/IIA (American
Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters/Insurance
Institute of America)
A valuable online resource for professional insurance education.
HEALTH-RELATED SITES:
American Association
of Pediatrics
An organization committed to the health and well-being of infants,
children, and young adults.
Health On the Net
Foundation
Use the MedHunt search engine to find valuable medical sites,
hospitals, and medical support.
Mental Health
Net
An award-winning guide to online mental health, psychology, and
psychiatry resources.
U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
Access the U.S. government's principal agency for protecting the
health of all Americans.
Healthfinder
Browse the listed categories or conduct your own keyword search
to access a database of health-related information.
4 safety.com
Safety tips and products for protecting you, your children, your
home, and your business. Extensive links to safety organizations
and publications. A must see!
AUTOMOBILE SITES:
Advocates
for Highway and Auto Safety
Keep on top of the latest issues and policies, print policy statements
and fact sheets on numerous topics including teen divers, air
bags, and more!
Car and
Driver
An online version of the magazine. Useful information including
numerous online issues, a buying guide, and classifieds.
AAA Foundation
for Traffic Safety
A must for parents of TEEN DRIVERS. Find educational materials,
statistics, online quizzes, and more! driver-ZED allows teens
to gain real-world driving experience on your PC!
www.safety.org
Become a more informed driver! Tips on jump starting, hydroplaning,
air bags, and more! IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
Crashworthiness evaluations, fatality facts, and more! A must
read before you purchase a car.
MBG honors two Inner Circle members
Mutual Benefit is pleased to announce that it is honoring two agencies as members of its Inner Circle based on 2011 results.
They are Samuel C. Hoff Insurance Agency, Westminster, Maryland, and McGovern Insurance Agency, Inc., with offices in Carbondale and Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. This is the third consecutive year of membership for the Hoff Agency, and the first year for the McGovern Agency.
MBG has been rewarding agents for noteworthy results via the Inner Circle program since 1993. The award is presented annually to acknowledge outstanding agent performance, recognizing those who have established a consistent record of profitable growth along with superior customer satisfaction.
The honorees are among the 250 independent insurance agents who represent Mutual Benefit Group throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland.
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Mutual Benefit Named Among ‘Best Places to Work’
Mutual Benefit Group, a regional property/casualty insurance company based in Huntingdon, has been named one of the Best Places to Work in PA for 2011. The awards program, created in 2000, is one of the first statewide programs of its kind in the country. The program is a public/private partnership between Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Central Penn Business Journal.
This survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places to be employed in Pennsylvania, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce and businesses. In the past, employers were categorized based upon the number of employees they had in Pennsylvania. This year, employers were categorized based upon the total number of employees they have in the United States. This change was made to ensure the proper alignment of organizations and to avoid naming large national employers to the small/medium list simply because they have fewer employees based in Pennsylvania. This change did not have any impact on which organizations made the list, just how they were categorized.
To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:
- Have at least 25 employees in Pennsylvania;
- Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business;
- Be a publicly or privately held business;
- Have a facility in Pennsylvania; and
- Be in good standing with Commonwealth agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction.
Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the 100 Best Places to Work in PA. The first part of this process was evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophies, systems and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process.
Mutual Benefit was recognized at the Best Places to Work in PA evening awards ceremony on Tuesday, December 1, 2011, at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Lancaster, PA. In addition to the public/private partnership, the program is supported by the following organizations: Lead Sponsor—Team Pennsylvania Foundation; Presenting Sponsor—ParenteBeard, LLC; Major Sponsors—Capital BlueCross; E.K. McConkey & Co., Inc.; Penn State, Smeal College of Business; Saul Ewing; and Supporting Sponsor—Arcus.
Mutual Benefit provides insurance coverage for autos, homes, and businesses. The firm employs 16o people and serves nearly 100,000 policyholders through a network of 250 independent agents in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Mutual Benefit celebrated its 100th year in business in 2008. It was named among the top three insurance carriers in its region in a 2010 biennial survey conducted by the Insurance Agents and Brokers Service Group.
For more information on Best Places to Work in PA, visit www.bestplacestoworkinpa.com
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Education and Action Are the Keys
to Staying Safe Online
Imagine that you pay a bill online using your bank account, and a day later, you receive the following e-mail including the name and logo of NACHA, the national Electronic Payments Association:
The transfer recently sent from your checking account was cancelled by the other financial institution.
Rejected transaction
Reason for rejection: See details in the report below:
Transaction Report: Report 281461593781.pdf.exe
You’d likely be concerned, and you’d likely think it wise to click on the link for more information. So you do, and immediately a virus infects your computer.
Or imagine you receive an e-mail from the IRS, complete with the IRS logo, in which you are threatened with an “e-audit.” You are instructed to send personal information such as your Social Security number, birth date, etc., immediately, via e-mail.
Might you not be inclined to do exactly as asked? After all, it’s the IRS! You respond, give out your personal information, and months later discover that several credit card accounts have been set up in your name...and used...without your knowledge.
Over the past year, thousands of Americans have received such messages in their e-mail inboxes. Both are fraudulent messages, and both are examples of Internet “phishing” schemes.
The bogus NACHA and IRS e-mails are just two examples of many types of online fraud that are committed every day in the United States. In fact, the U.S. Department of Justice statistics indicate that identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States and has surpassed drug trafficking as the number one crime in America. Each year, attacks grow more frequent and more sophisticated. Identity theft happens when someone uses your name, address, Social Security number, credit card or bank account numbers, passwords and other personal information without your knowledge to commit crimes.
What you might not know is that many authorities actually consider your personal and banking information to be more secure online because of the sophisticated encryption (encoding) techniques used to protect information as it passes over the Internet. In an article posted at creditunions.com, you learn that “according to Javelin Strategy, security experts actually recommend that consumers pay their bills online, as well as shred their monthly invoices as a precaution. When
paying on line, consumers are in a secure area. Actions made, even if simply checking cleared items, are encrypted. Along with an Internet browser that uses 128-bit encryption, this is far more secure than putting a paper check in a mailbox.”
As Fidelity National Information Services Company explains, “The perception is that electronic transactions are riskier and offer greater exposure to identity theft. The reality is that paper leaves a more vulnerable and longer trail, while 128-bit encryption is much more effective at protecting data. Paper checks touch on average between 11 and 18 hands in the payment cycle. Additionally, any bill information or account information that is not routinely shredded can the leave the consumer more exposed. ‘Dumpster diving’ is still the most common means of identity theft, largely because it’s easier than hacking into an encrypted system.”
Let’s consider the NACHA scam in particular to understand how phishing schemes work. “Phishing”is the practice of obtaining confidential information through manipulation. Rather than trying to hack into a computer network, “phishers” try to elicit personal information by impersonating government or charitable organizations, or well-known businesses, taking advantage of the average person’s tendency to trust such establishments. Once the “phisher” has the information, he or she can use it to open credit cards in the victim’s name or commit other types of fraud using the stolen identity.
NACHA has been the victim of sustained and evolving phishing attacks since February 2011. Both consumers and businesses have received the fraudulent e-mails that appear to come from NACHA. The fraudulent messages typically make reference to a bank transfer, payment, or transaction and contain a link or attachment that infects the computer with malicious code when clicked on by the recipient. The contents of the fraudulent e-mails vary, with the most recent examples including a counterfeit NACHA logo and citation of NACHA’s physical mailing address and telephone number.
According to a news release provided to consumers on NACHA’s Web site, NACHA itself does not process nor touch the bank transactions that flow between organizations and financial institutions. NACHA does not send communications to persons or organizations about individual bank transactions that they originate or receive.
The release encourages recipients of messages claiming to be from NACHA to delete the messages, or forward them to abuse@nacha.org to aid NACHA in its efforts with security experts and law enforcement officials to pursue the people behind the fraud. Once you forward the message, make sure you delete it.
What can you learn from the NACHA fraud case? How do you protect yourself online? The same way you would protect your personal safety on the street, the safety of your family, the safety of personal possessions, or the money in your wallet. You become educated about the risks, and you take recommended steps to protect yourself.
Following are some tips and resources that will help you stay safe online:
Educate yourself
Many bank and credit union sites regularly post information on their Web sites regarding the most recent and widespread online fraud schemes. You can also find such information, as well as many helpful tips on protecting yourself from online identity theft schemes, by visiting sites such as staysafeonline.org, us-cert.gov (posted by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, US-CERT), and antiphishing.org. These sites also explain identity fraud terms that you may have heard but don’t understand, such as phishing, spyware, social engineering, and dumpster diving.
Know what NOT to do
Do not give sensitive information such as your Social Security number, address, date of birth, bank account number, passwords, PIN numbers, or the security code from the back of your credit cards to anyone unless you are sure that they are who they say they are, and that they should have the information requested. This includes e-mail requests for such information. Legitimate companies never ask for your personal information by e-mail. When you get such an e-mail, realize that the chances are excellent that it is a scam.
Do not click on any link in an e-mail that requests personal information; do not follow unsolicited Web links in e-mail messages. Delete suspicious e-mails right away. Often such links contain a virus that will immediately infect your computer when you click on the link.
Do not automatically open e-mail attachments. Even if the message looks as though it came from someone as familiar as your mother or your boss, be aware that viruses can mimic a return address, making it look as though the e-mail came from someone else. Attachments can contain a virus or spyware that will infect your computer. Be especially suspicious of attachments with an “exe” file extension. Delete e-mails with suspicious attachments right away.
Don’t let your curiosity, your good nature, or your innate trust in an organization put you at risk. If possible, check with the person who supposedly sent the message to make sure it’s legitimate before opening any attachments. Go to the official Web site for a financial institution or organization by typing its Web address in the address bar of your Web browser, not by clicking a link in an e-mail. If there is a real problem at the institution or organization, there will likely be a message on the homepage of the corporate/organization Web site. Or, call the company’s customer support department and ask if the message is legitimate. If an unknown individual claims to represent a legitimate organization, try to verify his or her identity directly with the company or organization. Be aware that Internet service providers and software vendors do not send patches or anti-virus software and updates via e-mail.
Know what TO do
Stay calm if you receive an e-mail telling you that a transaction failed, a direct deposit did not go through, an account was frozen, or that credit card information was stolen. Scammers send messages like these in hopes of upsetting you so that you will immediately follow their advice to click on a link included in the message to receive more information. The link contains a virus that compromises your computer. Rather than clicking on such a link, call the bank or business associated with the transaction to verify that there is indeed a problem.
Look at Web addresses in your Internet browser. The letters “https” should precede any Web address through which you enter personal information. The “s” stands for “secure.” If you don’t see the “s,” you’re not in a secure Web session, and you should not enter information.
Install and maintain up-to-date antivirus software, firewalls, and e-mail filters on your computer. Be sure that your computer operating system and common software application security patches are installed and current. Enable your computer settings to take advantage of automatic patch updates.
Turn off your computer’s option to automatically download attachments.
Save and scan attachments before opening them. If you feel you must open an attachment before you can verify the source, be sure that your anti-virus software is up to date. Save the file to your computer or a disk. Scan the file using your anti-virus software. If the file is clean and doesn’t seem suspicious, open it.
Pay attention to the URL of a Web site. Malicious Web sites may look exactly the same as a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain, such as .com instead of .org.
If you suspect that you are the victim of identity fraud or that your financial accounts may have been compromised, you should:
1) Contact your financial institutions and credit card companies immediately to close accounts.
2) Change any passwords you may have provided. If you use the same password for most of your dealings, change it on all accounts and don’t use it in the future.
3) Watch for any unexplainable charges to your accounts.
4) Consider reporting the attack to the police or filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov. Sometimes, institutions, organizations, or businesses targeted by such scams may ask you to forward a fraudulent e-mail to a particular address for analysis.
5) Consult a computer security or anti-virus specialist or re-install a clean image of the computer system if you believe your computer may be infected with a virus or malicious code.
For more information on the NACHA and IRS phishing scams, visit the organizations’ Web sites using the following links:
http://www.nacha.org/node/98
http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html?portlet=111
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