 Don’t Bite!
Beware of Credit Union (and other) Phishing Scams
Recently, people have been receiving counterfeit emails claiming to
be from their credit unions, and asking recipients to confirm their account
information (an illegal scamming practice know as "phishing").
OECU will never ask you for account
information in an email. If you receive such an email, DO NOT REPLY! Some
of the people who did suffered financial losses as a result.
What is Phishing?
Phishing scams use "spoofed" emails and fraudulent
websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial
data such as credit card numbers, account usernames and passwords, Social
Security numbers, etc. By hijacking the trusted brands of well-known
financial institutions, online retailers and credit card companies, phishers
are able to convince many recipients to provide personal and financial
information. They may design their emails and web pages to exactly duplicate
the appearance of those used by the institution they are masquerading
as. |
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Scammers
use all types of excuses and incentives to obtain the information they
want. These include claims that account information needs to be updated
and offers of free gifts.
Loss Prevention Recommendations
- Do not
click on links or attached files in suspicious emails.
- Do not,
under any circumstances, provide personal information to unknown
sources.
- Before
submitting financial information
through a website, look for the "lock" icon
on
the browser's status bar.
- Review credit
card and other account statements as soon as you receive them to
determine whether there are any unauthorized transactions.
- If a statement
is late by more than a couple of days, call the credit card company
or credit union to confirm your billing address and account balances.
- Report suspicious
activity to the FTC.
- Send the
actual spam/phish to www.ftc.gov.
- If you believe
you are a victim of identity theft, file a complaint at www.ftc.gov and
visit the FTC's Identity Theft Website (www.ftc.gov/idtheft)
to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from the identity theft.
- Place
a "fraud
alert" on your credit bureau records.
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