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It has come to our attention that our customer care number is being imitated. You may get a call from a scammer claiming to be from the bank and asking for personal and bank details. Please note: We will NEVER call you to verify personal information. If you receive such a call, do not share your details and report the incident to us immediately. Stay safe and thank you for your vigilance!

Security Center

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Farmers & Merchants State Bank Online Security

Farmers & Merchants State Bank is committed to doing everything possible to secure customer information so that unauthorized parties cannot access it.  Measures have been taken to secure customer information over the Internet, including the username and password customers use to authenticate to Online or Mobile Banking.

If you have problems accessing F&M’s Online or Mobile Banking, or suspect fraudulent activity involving your accounts, you should contact your local branch or call us at 419-446-4817 or 800-451-7843 from 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday or 8am-Noon on Saturdays.

DO YOUR PART TO PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

While F&M has deployed industry-standard security measures to protect your data, you are ultimately responsible for safeguarding your data from identity thieves and hackers. When it comes to securing your own data, there are some basic but crucial steps you can take to protect yourself.

Hackers and identity thieves can use sophisticated tricks to get you to reveal personal information. They can create fake websites that look like your bank, emails that appear legitimate and phone calls that will try to scare you. F&M will never send you a request asking for your personal or banking information. Contact F&M directly if you receive any type of request for this information. Do not reply to an email or phone call, even if they seem legitimate. To help maintain security, you should LOG OUT and CLOSE your browser when you have completed your Internet banking session. This will help prevent unauthorized persons from viewing your private account information. For certain account activities, Security Tokens will be made available.  Tokens can be either physical or virtual.  Multifactor authentication (MFA), which provides a second level of customer authentication, in addition to the standard user ID and password, is one of the most effective defenses against online banking fraud Once enrolled in Online or Mobile Banking, you can set up Alerts to assist you in monitoring your account activity. Relevant financial events, such as a low balance, posted transactions, or pending debit card transactions, automatically trigger the delivery of real-time alerts. You can control your communication preferences and can choose to receive alerts through email, text, or push notifications. Even if your computer and devices are secure, if you access your personal or banking information from an unsecured network or public computer, your data can be compromised.  When connecting to a network from one of your devices, ensure the network is secured with a strong, unique password.  In addition, ensure it is encrypted with WPA2 or WPA3 security protocols.  You should never access your personal or banking information from a computer accessible by the public. Just as you expect F&M to keep our security up to date, you need to make sure the software on your devices is updated as well. Computer manufacturers and mobile device makers update their software regularly, not only with new features, but with important security updates. You also need to update the antivirus, firewall and security software on your computer. Make sure the F&M app is updated on your mobile devices.
F&M requires strong passwords to protect your account information.  You will need to choose a password that is 8 to 17 characters in length.  Passwords must include at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, and one number.

Never share your password with another person. For your protection, we encourage you to change your online banking password every 90 days. Do not use numbers that are easily associated with you, such as your telephone number, address, or birth date as your password.

If you store banking data on your computer or mobile devices, make sure these devices are password protected. If your computer or phone is ever lost or stolen, it will make it that much more difficult for would-be thieves to access your data.

BROWSER REQUIREMENTS

In order to use online banking your browser must meet the following minimum standards:

  • JavaScript enabled
  • 128-bit encryption enabled
We support the following Web Browser versions:

  • Apple Safari
  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Mozilla Firefox

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