About Us

Fraud Alert!

Holiday Fraud Prevention Tips December 17, 2009

As we approach the peak of the holiday season, credit union members will be using a variety of payment methods for their shopping activities. Member education and awareness is so important during the shopping season – as so many individuals face financial difficulties in these economic times. By sharing these tips with your members, you can help protect them from becoming fraud victims this holiday season.

• Ensure that receipts reflect the correct transaction amount
• When performing a PIN transactions, ensure others are not capturing your PIN number
• When using a debit card, you may select “credit”, which requires a signature and extends the $0 member liability under the Visa / MasterCard association rules
• Review all accounts (checking, savings, credit card) activity daily
• Lower your credit line limit during the holidays
• When paper checks are converted at a merchant to an ACH, store voided checks safely to prevent counterfeit checks or unauthorized ACH transactions
• Be suspicious of emails from unknown parties; don’t open the email or click any links within them
• Access your credit union’s authorized website by typing the website into the address bar of web browser to avoid “spoofed” websites attempting to steal your information
• Shop online with trustworthy merchants who require security information such as address verification and the CVV2/CVC2 number on the back of your card
• When shopping in person or using an ATM, be aware of your surroundings and report any unusual activities to your credit union
• Never leave your purse, wallet, or cards unattended
• And finally, if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is, so be cautious

Related Resources:

FBI’s Holiday Shopping Alert issued December 1, 2009
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec09/scams_120109.html

FTC’s OnGuard Online Shopping Report
http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/online-shopping.aspx

CUNA Mutual RISK Alert on Phishing Scams issued October 29, 2009
https://sites.cunamutual.com/cmg/secured/protresource/ssl/riskAlertDetail/0,1579,22929,00.html