[June 14, 2004] Experts Available to Discuss Survey Indicating Criminals Focused on Online Banking --(Business Wire)-- TOPIC: A survey conducted by Gartner estimates almost 2 million Americans have had money stolen from their checking accounts over the past year, according to an article by MSNBC.com. The average amount lost was $1,200 per occurrence. Experts say criminals can easily access online bank accounts by creating programs that steal passwords and account information. Another method to steal account information is phishing, which has been increasing severely during the past six months. Phish emails appear to come from legitimate financial institutions and ask the recipient for personal information so the criminal can later access their account. EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story: Leighton Alston is president and CEO of WGNB Corp. and CEO of West Georgia National Bank. WGNB Corp is the holding company for West Georgia National Bank, a community bank based in Carrollton, Ga. that offers a variety of services designed to meet the needs of individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. Prior to being named CEO of the bank, Alston worked for the Comptroller of the Currency as a National Bank Examiner where he worked with banks to ensure they met all federal and local regulations. Alston is a member of the West Georgia Business and Industrial Leaders Association and the Carroll County Chapter of the Salvation Army. He also serves on the Regulation and Taxation Committee of the Community Bankers Committee of the Georgia Bankers Association. Alston is a graduate of the University of West Georgia and also holds a degree from the Graduate School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University. 770-830-2914, [email protected] Paul Hughes is the director of the Yankee Group's Billing & Payment Applications Strategies Planning Service. Hughes is responsible for research and consulting activities in the areas of billing and customer care, customer asset management, electronic bill presentment and payment, online payment systems, and other areas involving convergence, from both the consumer and technology perspective. Before joining the Yankee Group, Hughes was the project manager for telecommunications and embedded systems research at Venture Development Corp., where he examined the markets for SS7 and advanced intelligent network technologies, embedded computers, and co-authored an extensive groundbreaking study on embedded software development tools and real-time operating systems. 617-880-0208, [email protected] Diane Terry joined TransUnion in 1973. Currently, she is the Director of the company's Fraud Victim Assistance Department (FVAD), which she co-founded in 1992. Diane Terry is one of the nation's foremost authorities on credit fraud and identity theft. During more than 23 years in this field, she has played an important role in numerous major fraud investigations, advised federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, taught courses on financial crimes and written extensively on the subject of credit fraud and identity theft. She is an instructor for the Department of Justice Economic Crimes class. Also, she has participated in many educational workshops and community programs on the topics of credit fraud and fraud prevention. Diane has been an active member of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators since 1981. Diane was the past President for the Southern California Chapter for two years and is currently IAFCI's International Treasurer. Diane attended the University of Arizona and is a graduate of several management programs, including a management development program at the University of Michigan. PR Contact: Elizabeth Berglund, 312-255-3129, [email protected] ExpertSource cannot guarantee the immediate availability of these experts or their familiarity with this specific issue. ExpertSource provides academic and industry experts to the media at no charge. Journalists are encouraged to submit queries to ExpertSource when seeking experts on specific subjects. An online registration form is available at http://www.businesswire.com/. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]