At Merrill, we have multiple layers of security in place to protect our clients, employees and company. Additionally, we have a sustainable cybersecurity program that is centered upon:

• An institutional commitment: At Merrill, cyber resilience goes well beyond the expectation of simply being compliant. We make it an institutional goal.
• A culture of accountability: Every level of our organization is accountable for cybersecurity, and our employees are aware that protecting information is a shared responsibility.
• Consistency: We ensure there is consistency in our standards, framework and approach with cross-institutional collaboration to defend against cyber threats. How an institution is organized influences how well they prevent, detect and mitigate against cybercrime.
• A strong measurement program: We continually use security metrics to analyze our security solutions, identify potential vulnerabilities and determine how to best utilize our security resources.

Our Cybersecurity Program includes:

• A team of approximately 3400 industry-leading information security professionals across more than 18 different countries.
• Analysts who actively track and respond to geopolitical and technological trends impacting security, such as deepfakes and artificial intelligence, to proactively improve our defenses.
• Dynamic information sharing, innovative projects and challenging exercises where we are constantly sharing best practices and refining our cybersecurity program through collaboration with private sector and government partners.

Fraud Protection

We're consistently working to keep your accounts and information secure. Here are some ways we help protect you against fraud:

Early Fraud Warnings

Designed to identify potential fraud if unusual or abnormal spending patterns occur in your account—in the event someone has stolen your credit card account information and is charging purchases to you.

Remember: Don’t transfer money as a result of an unexpected phone call or text. We will never ask you to send us personal information such as an account number, Social Security number, Tax ID, password or username over text, email or online.

Visa Cards with a Cardholder Verifications Value

If you are making a transaction online or on the phone, you may be asked to enter a special three-digit code. This safeguard measure ensures that you physically have the Visa card with you-in the event someone has stolen your credit card number (but not your actual physical card), they can't make purchases online.

Here is where you can locate the special three-digit code that is printed on the back of your credit card:

Web Bill Pay

Bank of America uses strong encryption so you can be assured that your payments will arrive safely and securely and that we will always keep your information private-in the event someone steals your checks that you are mailing out. "Encryption" means we convert the information into code (while it is transmitting from your computer to ours) so it is unintelligible to unauthorized parties.

Credit and banking services are provided by Bank of America, N.A.

Report Fraud

Merrill’s employees are trained in incident response and resolution procedures. If you suspect that you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, please call us at 1.800.MERRILL (637-7455), or contact your financial advisor.

Forward any suspicious email or text message to us at abuse@bankofamerica.com.