Police: Number of victims in fraudulent use of Sunflower Bank accounts case rises to 124

Salina Post

SALINA — The number of victims in the fraudulent use of Sunflower Bank accounts case has risen to 124, Salina Police Detective Sergeant David Villanueva said Wednesday.

Villanueva also confirmed that police now do not believe the malware message shared with local media on Tuesday is responsible for the loss of funds from the Sunflower customers’ accounts. He explained that the message, which apparently appears on computers that have a specific software plug-in, was seen by two Salina Police Department employees only and that none of the 124 victims had seen or clicked on the message.

Sunflower Bank issued the following statement on Tuesday, “We take our security, and the security of our customers very seriously. Upon learning of these reports, we immediately reviewed our security protocols to confirm the issue was not present in our environment. We actively monitor our environment 24/7 to ensure security protocols remain effective. The message that was shared appears to be from pdfmaker-live and is not associated with Sunflower Bank or its websites.”

Villanueva said that as of yet, there does not appear to be a common point of compromise on the accounts. He explained that the victims were asked where they last used their cards before the breach. Some had used ATMs while others had not, he said. ATMs that were used were all over the city and were not just those belonging to Sunflower, Villanueva said.

According to Villanueva, the majority of fraudulent transactions appears to be for cash. He said that locations where fraudulent transactions occurred include the following cities along or near Interstate 135 and Interstate 35.

Newton
Burrton
Wichita
Andover
Norman, Okla
Springer, Okla.
Ardmore, Okla.
Denton, Texas
Houston, Texas

Additionally, several transactions have occurred in the Kansas City area, Villanueva said.

Villanueva encouraged people to regularly check their accounts for improper charges. If suspicious activity is detected or if people have information about this case, they are encouraged to contact Tim Brown, who is the Salina Police Department’s lead detective on the case.