The closure of Silicon Valley Bank has understandably attracted a lot of attention. There are, however, other ways to lose money when banking. The California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation recently issued the consumer alert, which I have copied below:

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) has received information that the website CALFCB.COM claims to be associated with the bank “First Credit Bank”. This is a practice commonly called “spoofing” where an imposter creates a fake website claiming to be a legitimate entity. In fact, this imposter website is not associated with the actual “First Credit Bank”, which does not operate a website.

First Credit Bank is an FDIC-regulated entity, and their license information is available at this link: https://www.ffiec.gov/npw/Institution/Profile/5069?dt=20060331.

The DFPI urges consumers to exercise extreme caution before responding to any solicitation offering investment or financial services. To check whether an investment of financial service provider is licensed in California, or to file a complaint, consumers should go to DFPI website at www.dfpi.ca.gov or call 1-866-275-2677.