Some of the topics covered include:

• Saving money to meet specific goals, made easier with the help of automated services;
• Choosing and using an account for everyday banking;
• Mobile banking by smartphone;
• Building a good credit record;
• Obtaining and repaying student loans;
• Getting a good deal on an auto loan;
• Avoiding mistakes with credit cards;
• Recovering from debt or bill-payment problems; and
• Guarding against fraud, including identity theft.

These scams often originate overseas and are very hard to trace. It is very unlikely victims of these scams will recover any of their money and banks often hold individuals responsible for the loses when information is provided voluntarily to scammers.

If you have received a scam call, text, or email of this nature, please report it to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division by submitting a complaint online - www.IndianaConsumer.com or call 1-800-382-5516.

Stop! Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller says red flags should be raised if you are asked to pay to enter a sweepstakes or told you already won without entering the contest. Also, legitimate promoters do not require you to pay for “insurance,” “shipping” or “taxes” in order to collect your winnings.

Scammers will likely ask you to send a check or money order by overnight delivery hoping to rip you off before you realize you have been duped. If they offer to send you a check that covers a partial payout to cover any up-front fees, be leery. Usually these checks are fraudulent and can take up to six months to bounce. The funds will be withdrawn from your account to cover the bad check and you will be out what you sent to the fraudster.

So far this year, the Attorney General’s Office has received more than 500 calls from consumers reporting sweepstakes or foreign lottery scams. Sweepstakes are not necessarily illegal, but they are commonly used by disreputable promoters to swindle unsuspecting consumers.

Expect strings to be attached if you’re in a public place like a mall or trade show and enter a prize drawing or sweepstakes. The only thing you might be signing up for is more sweepstake solicitations via the mail or your phone. Often times the personal information you provide on entry forms is sold to third parties for placement on sweepstakes mailing lists.

Thinking about buying a chance to win a foreign lottery? Think again. These types of lottery solicitations violate U.S. law, which prohibits the cross-border sale or purchase of lottery tickets by phone or mail. Your chances of winning are slim to none and you will likely receive more phony offers for other sweepstakes. Your best bet is to ignore all phone and mail solicitations for foreign lottery promotions. If you receive what looks like lottery material from a foreign country, give it to your local postmaster.

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The study was conducted by InvestingAnswer.com, which focuses on “helping individual investors build and protect their wealth through education.”

“To help Americans regain their sense of financial security and peace of mind that their money is safe, we’ve found a way to find the safest banks in America—using a special metric called the ‘Texas Ratio,’” Glakas wrote.

“Without walking through the formula, the takeaway is this: The closer the Texas ratio gets to zero, the lower the bank’s risk of failure.”

Ossian State Bank’s “Texas ratio” is 0.0.

“We are honored to be designated one of the safest banks in the nation,” Ossian State Bank CEO David Morrison said.  “Our customers can depend upon us to exhibit safe, sound and honest business practices.”

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“Ossian State Bank is the only 5-Star rated bank with an office in Ossian.  Our customers and community should be proud of their bank’s “Superior” rating and its continued commitment to serving the local community”, shared David Morrison, President & CEO.

Senior citizens are contacted, usually late at night, by a scammer posing as a panicked grandchild. All the caller has to say is, “Grandma?” The grandparent will guess the name of the grandchild it sounds most like and then continue to feed personal information to the scammer. The alleged grandchild typically explains that they were arrested, have an emergency, were involved in an auto accident or got into trouble while traveling.

At this point, the “grandchild” needs the grandparent to wire money immediately for bail or to pay for damages. In addition, the scammer will beg the senior citizen not to contact other relatives because he or she does not want to “get into trouble”.

Law enforcement officials are not certain how perpetrators are obtaining the phone numbers for so many seniors or senior housing complexes across the U.S. It is believed that scammers are most likely calling random numbers until they reach a senior citizen or they research senior housing units on the internet. While many seniors have reported the scam without falling prey to it, unfortunately, many others have been victimized.

The key to avoiding this scam is to:

• Remain calm despite the ‘emergency’ nature of the call. Resist the pressure to “act now.”
• Make attempts to verify the identity of the caller, i.e. ask questions about the name of their grade school, a pet, another relative or a childhood memory only a close relative would know.
• Contact the actual grandchild’s home or cell phone, or other family member directly to verify the story before taking any further action.
• Understand that a request to wire money through Western Union or MoneyGram is a “red flag” and an immediate tip-off that the call may be part of a scam. Funds sent via wire transfer are hard to track once received by scammers and are usually not recoverable by law enforcement or banking officials.

If you or someone you know was a victim of this or another scam, please contact your local police department.

If you have friends or loved ones who could be vulnerable to this scheme, please share this information and encourage them to check out any situation similar to this that may arise.

If you have further questions, please talk to one of Ossian State Bank’s employees.

These scams often originate overseas and are very hard to trace. It is very unlikely victims of phishing scams will recover any of their money and banks often hold individuals responsible for the loses when information is provided voluntarily to scammers.

If you have received a scam call, text or email of this nature, please report it to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division by submitting a complaint online or by calling 1-800-382-5516.