Preventing Fraud |
| There is a growing epidemic of identity theft in this country and everyone is susceptible to becoming a victim. |
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| Phishing E-Mail Fraud Alert |
| Phishing is a scam in which criminals hook unwary internet users by creating forgeries of legitimate e-mails and websites. The “phishers” then attempt to steal personal information by asking the customer to update or validate their account information. |
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| Increasingly, Americans are receiving fraudulent e-mails that direct recipients to websites and request that you provide them personal and financial information. They may claim your information is necessary to assist in the fight against terrorism. Other e-mails scams claim to be directly from government agencies or financial institutions. |
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| These fraudulent schemes are known as "phishing", the fraudster sends an e-mail to consumers, falsely claiming to be from a legitimate company. |
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| Never give out your personal information. First Credit Union will never request that you update or give out personal information via e-mail. Report any suspicious activity to the Federal Trade Commission. If you believe you have been scammed, file an official complaint. |
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| Avoid Falling Victim to Phishing Scams |
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Do not reply to or click on a link in an e-mail that warns you, with little notice or prior legitimate expectation that an account of yours will be shut down unless you confirm your billing information. Instead, contact the company cited in the e-mail using an authenticated telephone number or other form of communication that you are sure is genuine. |
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Review credit card and your financial account statements and check for unauthorized charges. |
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Call the domestic phone number on the company or agency website to verify the legitimacy. Many phishing attempts originate from outside the U.S. and thus are not likely to have a working domestic phone number. As a further precaution, seek to verify the number with a U.S. based directory. |
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Be wary of e-mail messages saying your account has been frozen. |
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Don't follow links to your financial institution's website if they are sent via e-mail. Type the address yourself. If this e-mail is legitimate, the site should have info about it on the the site. |
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| Fraudulent Activity Called “Vishing” |
| You may have heard of “phishing” scams in which crooks send e-mails or text messages claiming to be from legitimate financial institutions, companies, or government agencies asking consumers to “verify” or “resubmit” confidential information such as bank account and credit card numbers, social security numbers, passwords, and personal identification numbers. |
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| What is Vishing?
“Vishing” is a combination of “voice” and “phishing.” Vishing is the criminal practice of using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony to gain access to consumer’s personal and financial information. |
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| An example of a vishing scam is when a consumer receives a recorded message telling them that their credit card and/or financial institution account has been breached and to immediately call a number provided in the recorded message. The phone number provided in the message leads the consumer to a “fraudulent call center” established by criminals looking to steal consumers’ personal information. The criminals then attempts to obtain confidential account information and login credentials in order to access the account. A twist on this scam is when the recorded message provides the address of a fraudulent website for the consumer to access (instead of a telephone number) and to provide certain information to reinstate the supposedly affected account(s). |
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| To protect themselves, consumers are advised to be highly suspicious when receiving messages (telephone, text message, email, or otherwise) directing them to call and provide personal, confidential, and/or account related information. Rather than provide any information, consumers should contact their financial institution or credit card company directly to verify the validity of the message using contact information they already have in their possession. Do not use the contact information provided in the suspicious message. |
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| Never give out your personal information unless you initiate the call. First Credit Union would not call you and ask you for your personal information. Keep in mind you may be asked to update or verify personal information when you call us. |
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| How to Report Suspicious E-mails |
| Report suspicious activity to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Send the actual Phishing e-mail to spam@uce.gov. If you believe you have been defrauded, file a complaint at www.ftc.gov. |
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