For increased security, Beneficial State Bank is now requiring customers to change their Online Banking passwords every 90 days. This is in an effort to help to protect your privacy, deter fraud and prevent identity theft. If you have questions, please call us toll free 888.326.2265. Regular email is not a secure method of communication. You should be wary of suspicious email and never open attachments, click on links, or respond to emails from suspicious or unknown senders. We recommend that you take the following email security measures: or call our Operations Department at 888.326.2265. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has received numerous reports of a fraudulent email that has the appearance of being sent from the FDIC. The subject line of the email states: “check your Bank Deposit Insurance Coverage.” The email tells recipients: "You have received this message because you are a holder of a FDIC-insured bank account. Recently FDIC has officially named the bank you have opened your account with as a failed bank, thus, taking control of its assets.”
The email then asks recipients to “visit the official FDIC website and perform the following steps to check your Deposit Insurance Coverage” (a fraudulent link is provided). It then instructs recipients to “download and open your personal FDIC Insurance File to check your Deposit Insurance Coverage.” This email and associated website are fraudulent. Recipients should consider the intent of this email as an attempt to collect personal or confidential information, some of which may be used to gain unauthorized access to online banking services or to conduct identity theft. The FDIC does not issue unsolicited emails to consumers. Financial institutions and consumers should NOT follow the link in the fraudulent email. Beneficial State Bank has recently received reports of SMiShing attacks (also known as text phishing), which have impacted cardholders of financial institutions located primarily in the eastern region of the U.S. SmiShing is a type of social engineering that uses cell phone text messages to persuade victims to provide personal information such as card number, CVV2, and PINs.
The text message may contain either a website address or more commonly, a phone number that connects to an automated voice response system, which then asks for personal information. The following are examples of SMiShing messages recently sent to cardholders: Although we may ask identifying information from you to verify your identity, Beneficial State Bank will never ask for the CVV2 or PIN number from your debit card. Please contact us to have your card reissued if you receive one of these messages. The bank continues to receive reports of a telephone scam involving fraudsters attempting to obtain personal information from cardholders. The details are as follows: Cardholders have received computer-generated calls claiming to be from their financial institution. The calls claim their accounts have been frozen and then direct the cardholder to call a toll-free number to leave their debit card information in order to reactivate any cards. The toll-free number includes a recorded message that asks the customer to key their account number, card expiration date, and PIN.
Cardholder awareness is key in combating fraud. Use these helpful tips to protect yourself: As with all possible fraudulent situations, you are encouraged to take appropriate measures if a scam is suspected. or toll-free at 888.326.2265. As the economy worsens and crime rises, it is important to follow safety precautions when using an ATM to avoid being robbed: or toll-free at 888.326.2265.LISA MCKINNON/THE STARMatt Giamela poses in the tiled passageway between the original dining room, far left and the new space at Casa de Soria in midtown Ventura. LISA MCKINNON/THE STARConsuelo Morales, head cook at Casa de Soria in Ventura for more than 20 years, poses in the restaurant’s new dining room. The space took nearly two years to remodel from its former use as a car dealership. LISA MCKINNON/THE STARCasa de Soria’s No. 9 dinner, top left, is seen with a Casa Classic margarita and other favorites. LISA MCKINNON/THE STARMatt Giamela opens the roll-up doors at what used to be the service bays at Barber Subaru.
Now known as the Bay Cantina, the space will serve as a special-events and Sunday brunch venue for Casa de Soria, which has expanded into the former car dealership. Nearly two years in the making, the expansion of Casa de Soria in midtown Ventura finally ended last week — not with a bang but with a dinner.Open since 1958, the restaurant Oct. 24 began serving its trademark refried beans, chili verde and Casa Classic margaritas in what previously had been the Barber Subaru showroom next door.Efforts to remodel the space started in the fall of 2012, when the dealership moved to the Ventura Auto Mall. The official unveiling was scheduled for Monday. But with occupancy permits in hand and the usual line of Friday-night customers waiting outside in the glow of the restaurant’s neon signs, owner Bill Giamela decided to start using the space a few days early.“My dad just wanted to get a test run in, to see how things went with all the seating available,” son Matt Giamela said Monday.Grand-opening celebrations Nov. 7 will include specials and other attractions, Giamela said.
In the meantime, diners should check the bottoms of their bowls of chips for tickets that could earn them Casa de Soria gift certificates ranging in amounts from $20 to $500, he said.The first patrons through the tiled doorway included a group of six who settled in at the red upholstered booth under a poster of the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. A party of eight claimed the former corner office turned private dining room. Both parties were treated to free meals, Giamela said.The remodeling project, which included adding a second set of bathrooms, took longer than expected in part because the restaurant stayed open throughout the process, Giamela said.Giamela also traveled to Mexico several times to buy decorative tile, and spent months combing through storage for items to use in the new space.Those items include a vintage Coca-Cola vending machine from his father’s first sandwich shop, and a burl wood clock that belonged to his late paternal grandmother. The clock now hangs above a door between the new dining area and the future Bay Cantina.But more about that in a minute.
The family also operates four Giamela’s Submarine Sandwiches locations in Los Angeles County, along with the coffee shop Giamela’s Lamplighter in Chatsworth and a meat-processing company that supplies pastrami to Brent’s Deli and chili made according to proprietary recipes for Pink’s Hot Dogs and Original Tommy’s Hamburgers.Members of the Giamela family purchased Casa de Soria about 20 years ago from the Caramanis family, who had owned it since the late 1970s, Giamela said.Facing Thompson Boulevard, the original portion of the restaurant seats 70 people and occupies about 2,500 square feet. The addition, which has a separate entrance off the new parking lot on Anacapa Street, bumps those numbers up to about 180 seats and 6,000 square feet.Ringed by decorative wrought iron, the outdoor patio adjacent to the parking lot is scheduled to open by mid November.An indoor/outdoor area created in what used to be Barber Subaru’s service bays — now furnished with lime green Patrón Tequila umbrella tables — will open in about a month.
Tentatively named the Bay Cantina, it will serve as a special-events venue for private parties and for Sunday brunch service, Giamela said.The expansion included hiring at least 10 new employees. Longtime staff members include head cook Consuelo Morales, who has been with Casa de Soria since before the Giamela family purchased the restaurant. Guillermo Silva has been on the job as a server for more than 25 years, while manager Luis Chavez has worked at Casa de Soria for two decades.Ventura resident Janet Miller has been dining at Casa de Soria since 1970, the year her family moved to the neighborhood. On Monday, she and daughter Pamela Miller gave thumbs’-up reviews to their usual order of Special Nachos, and to the expanded dining spaces.“Every week or two, I say, ‘I’ve got to have Mexican food. Meet me at the Casa,’” said Janet Miller. OPEN, SHUT AND IN BETWEEN: A slice of New York by way of La Jolla has opened — albeit on a by-reservations-only basis — in the Santa Rosa Plaza shopping center near Leisure Village in Camarillo.Located in the former Aloha Steakhouse space, Manhattan of Camarillo will offer limited dinner service of pasta, seafood, steaks and chops through early November.Co-owners Rich Cooper, of Camarillo
, and P.J. Macaluso, who also operates Manhattan of La Jolla, met nearly 30 years ago when Cooper helped build the La Jolla restaurant. They intend to gradually increase the number of reservations accepted each night, Macaluso said. Lunch will be introduced later in the year.Diners from the Aloha days will note that the bar has moved from the center of the room, clearing the way for a small dance floor and a grand piano.The sheltered patio at the front of the building features a bakery display case and banquettes lined with dozens of electrical outlets as it transitions into the Manhattan Cafe. When it opens — perhaps as early as next week — the café will serve Peet’s Coffee & Tea and house-made pastries in the morning, followed by sandwiches as the day unfolds (5800 Santa Rosa Road, Suite 140, 388-5550).Still mourning the 2009 closure of The Hilltop Bar after its nearly 65-year run in Oak View? After brief attempts at using the space as a live-music venue offering food, beer, wine, Balinese furniture and other retail items — first as Big Buddha Lounge, then as Big Buddha Cafe and Boutique — the roadside spot has returned to its roots as a neighborhood watering hole.
Newly re-christened Top of the Hill, it offers beer, soju cocktails, street tacos and burgers made with beef from the Watkins Ranch Butcher Shop in Meiners Oaks. The bamboo-fenced side patio remains, with new furnishings that include wine barrels and a high, circular table fitted with a Lazy Susan to help keep plates spinning (530 N. Ventura Ave., 613-3060).But in Ventura, Cappelletti’s Trattoria and Pizzeria in the beachside Pierpont neighborhood was open one day, not open the next, and emptied out of all business signs and furnishings the day after that. The phone number has been disconnected but the website lives on (1141 S. Seaward Ave.).In Westlake Village, Giardino Restaurant is scheduled to mark its soft opening this weekend in what previously was Cuvee Terrace and the Plug Nickel Restaurant before that.Co-owner Giorgio Pierangeli also operates Oliva Trattoria in Sherman Oaks and Pecorino Restaurant in Brentwood, and earlier this year took over The Local Table at The Village at Dos Vientos Ranch in Newbury Park.Executive chef Francesco Pesce is overseeing the menu of dishes like cuttlefish in white wine-tomato broth, veal scaloppine topped with Parma ham and sage, and crudo di tonno