BOk warns members of e-mail phishing

You check your e-mail and see a message from your bank. The message says you must update your account or it will be terminated and provides a Web link to the site.

If you followed the link to the Web site and entered in your personal information, chances are you got phished.

Phishing is the term used for such a scam. The e-mail is the lure to a fake Web site that, most of the time, looks real. The customer is asked to enter personal information to continue their account, but once personal information is entered, the customer's identity can be stolen.

Jim Eaton, president of the Muskogee Bank of Oklahoma, said there is a phishing scam circulating that tells customers to go to a Web site to renew their Bank of Oklahoma account or it will be deleted.

Don't fall for it, Eaton said.

"Bank of Oklahoma will never ask you for any personal information via e-mail," Eaton said.

Eaton said any such e-mail should be forwarded to the bank, which can have the false Web sites taken down.

Eaton said, like many people, he has received phishing scam e-mails in his personal account.

"We're not the first to have this phishing e-mail out. They (phishing scams) are constant," Eaton said. "Hopefully everybody is aware of that."

Eaton said he has received numerous complaints and phishing e-mails sent to customers forwarded to him involving Bank of Oklahoma.

Sgt. Shannon Crary, spokeswoman for the Muskogee Police Department, said the department has received few complaints about identity theft through phishing scams, but that may change.

"Not yet," Crary said. "We haven't gotten a large number. I suppose it will be a matter of time

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.