WICHITA, Kan., (August 31, 2026)— Equity Bank has noticed an uptick in fraud cases. We want to let you know what to look for to keep you and yours safe, especially ahead of the holiday season, a time when scammers are known to be busy.
As always, Equity has a dedicated Fraud Prevention Page packed with trends and resources for you, available 24/7.
The scam
The biggest culprit right now is spoofing. A scammer disguises their number so the call looks to you like it’s coming from us, then poses as an Equity Bank representative to pry loose account information.
Why it’s working
Spoofing is convincing because everything looks legitimate. The caller ID says Equity Bank. The caller already knows your name. And the caller creates just enough urgency — a “suspicious charge,” an “unauthorized transaction” — that people may react before they think. When the call appears to come from your own bank, many don’t question it.
What we’re seeing
The calls we’ve been getting reports on follow a pattern. The scammer claims to be from the Equity fraud department saying there’s suspicious activity on the customer’s debit card. To “verify,” they ask the customer to read back portions of their debit card number, enough to piece the card together.
It doesn’t always stop there. In a lot of these, the customer also gave up their online banking credentials.
Here’s how it plays out: with the customer still on the phone, the scammer entered those credentials into the online banking login. That triggered a secure access code (SAC) to be sent to the customer. The scammer then convinced the customer to read back that code, the last piece they needed to finish logging in. Once inside, they started moving money and attempting transfers to pull out even more. One phone call turns into a full account compromise.
Remember we will never cold-call you and ask you to verify your card number, PIN, online banking password, or a secure access code. If someone’s asking for that, it isn’t us.
What to do
If you believe a scammer is targeting you, hang up and call your local branch or Customer Care at 888-733-5041.
Never read back a SAC/one-time code to anyone, ever. No legitimate purpose requires it.
If you think you’ve already shared info: call the fraud prevention line- available 24/7- immediately at 1 (855) 961-1602. You should also change your online banking password.