The Bottom Line
Small business is important to Central Oregon, and to Mid Oregon. Find tips and resources for business, and information about Mid Oregon’s commercial services and business members.
‘Tis The Season Of Fake Shopping Sites
We’re all getting back into the holiday spirit after a somewhat glum 2020 season, Remember that the holiday shopping season doesn’t end on December 25. In fact, some retailers then put their marketing effort into overdrive. You will find after holidays sales, new year’s sales, and even “getting rid of all this stuff we didn’t sell at Christmas” sales advertised under some creative title. Retailers try to take advantage of the shopping spirit as far into the new year as they can. Criminals capitalize on this by creating phishing campaigns combined with fake shopping sites with lookalike domains (domain jacking) or taking advantage of typos (typosquatting): they are also upping their game.
Online Scams on the Rise
In a study by FairWinds Partners, 80% of the sites used for domain jacking see a significant increase in traffic during these after season times. Phishing scams, pay-per-click ads, and malvertising are on the rise.
Do-jacking and typosquatting happen when a cybercriminal uses a domain that is very close to a popular site for various scams. Often, the website collects information to use it for other nefarious purposes. Sometimes even just to sell on the underground markets. Additionally, it is used to get malware onto a visitor’s computer or device.
Mistakes Can Lead to Fake Shopping Sites
The way these attacks happens is simply by taking advantage of mistakes. Perhaps a letter is added to a site name as it for barnesandnobles.com (the real one being without the “s” on the end), for example. They take advantage of people making typographical mistakes. With a quick glance, the user likely won’t notice the subtle difference. This also occurs when a letter may be substituted with a number. One such way would be replacing a lower case “L” in a name with a number “1.”This is a very common problem with online banking sites or for sites where payment card data is entered. Cyberthieves know that the credentials associated with those sites are very valuable.
Remember, Mid Oregon Credit Union’s website is www.MidOregon.com. There are no dashes or other added letters.
Take Your Time and Review!
When preparing to do shopping online or enter any confidential, sensitive, or personally identifiable information into a website, take a little extra time to review the site name and make sure it’s correct first. Don’t click links that you find in email messages or that show up on the side of your web browser, for instance. Instead, type the name into your browser, but definitely use caution when doing so, because going to a site even for a second can cause malware to be downloaded onto your device. This is called a “drive-by download.”
Always make sure your devices are all equipped with anti-malware and anti-virus software or applications. Keep them updated at all times. This includes all mobile devices on any operating system.
If you are ever in doubt about a website’s authenticity, don’t put any data into it. Instead, do a little more investigating before doing anything further. There have been enough barriers to our joy lately. Don’t let do-jacking and typosquatting spoil the good times this year.
Read more Mid Oregon View articles about cybercrime and online fraud, to safeguard from cybercrime.
Yearly Check-up
By Chris O’Shea*
Year-end 401(k) moves to make
The end of 2021 is coming. That means it’s time to address your 401(k). You want to make sure you’re getting the most value out of this retirement account. Here are some moves to make before 2022 arrives.
Match Up
One of the best parts of a 401(k) is the employer match. Your employer will sometimes match 401(k) contributions, up to a certain point. It’s essentially free money. You want to make sure you’re taking advantage of this match. Set your contributions to the full matching amount before the year is over.
Max Out
For 2021, the max 401(k) contribution is $19,500 if you’re 50 or younger; $26,000 if you’re 50 or older. The time is now to get as close to that max as possible because it will take some time for payroll to change your contributions.
Review Things
Before the year ends, take some time to review your investment mix. As The Richmond Dispatch notes, you want to make sure you’re not paying too much in fees. If the fees don’t sit right with you, you might want to shift more of your portfolio to index funds. Index funds — unlike mutual funds — are passively managed, and that makes their fees lower.
Act Now
Your 401(k) can be a good investment tool. It can be a great tool if you are taking full advantage of it. Act now to make sure you’re getting the most value. Don’t sit around and just hope for the best. Time goes by faster than you think.
*This guest article is from the “Your Money Blog” in Mid Oregon’s Digital Banking Credit Savvy resource. It is made possible by SavvyMoney. “Yearly Check-up” by Chris O’Shea was published in December 2021.
View additional Mid Oregon View articles on retirement,
2021 RECORD BREAKING HOLIDAY DOUGH!
Our Holiday Dough branch fundraiser concluded at the end of November, and the amounts raised were the most ever. With the donations received, we achieved a record breaking Holiday Dough through the generosity of our members and local community!
Closing In On $9,000 in Donations
Our branches collected $8,931.72 in donations, exceeding last year’s previous record of $8,691, and nearing three times 2019’s fundraising total of $3,480. We received donations ranging from a few pennies, all the way up to $500 donations by individuals and businesses.
In this year of uncertainty, we were gratified by our member’s and community’s generosity and willingness to give. For two difficult years in a row, they have risen to the challenge, and to the need.
Many Smaller Donations Help Record Breaking Holiday Dough
Traditionally, Mid Oregon’s Holiday Dough fundraiser invites members to make small cash contributions at the branches to assist local food pantries with holiday meals. And that was again the case, with hundreds of smaller donations. In our La Pine Branch alone, 169 people contributed to the record breaking Holiday Dough branch total of $4,000 of donations: an amazing amount and number of participants.
In 2020 we introduced another option. We launched an online form to make it easier for members to donate without having to visit a branch. In using the form, you came through again this year!
We also had several large donors, with $500 donations each being made in Prineville, Madras, La Pine and Sisters. We are thankful for all of the generous donors, with large and small amounts!
Supporting Non-Profits Around Central Oregon
Mid Oregon was proud to partner with these local non-profits to provide holiday meals for local families in need:
- Bend (Olney and E Bend) – The Giving Plate services include: Monthly Food Box program, Grab & Go Pantry, Kid’s Korner food bank, & Backpacks for Bend.
- Redmond – Jericho Road providing shelter, food and clothing to those in need within the Redmond area
- Madras – Jefferson County Food Bank supplying food to families and individuals
- Prineville – Crook County Holiday Partnership providing holiday support to seniors, children and families in need in Crook County
- La Pine – La Pine Christmas Basket Association providing food during the Christmas holiday for people in the South Deschutes County area
- Sisters – Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank giving food vouchers, holiday children’s gifts, and more to local families
In spite of the record breaking Holiday Dough fundraiser, the needs continue. To help fill those needs, please contact each of those organizations if you would like to continue to support their efforts in 2022!