Scam Alert - News You Can Use
How To Protect Your Identity
Phishing scams - Text Messaging
(08/08)
Apparently phishing scams are
not limited to just email now. There has been a recent epidemic of
phishing text messages.
An example
of a text message:
FRM:
EPPI CARD
SUBJ:
Notification
MSG:
Your EPPI Card account is closed due to unusual activity. Call us now
at 7273200049
The are pretending to be
financial institutions or companies and send you text messages to get
you to reveal your personal information. If you have received a
message similar to it, DO NOT RESPOND. If you feel your card may have
been compromised contact your financial institution directly or call the
number on the back of the card.
SCENARIO/METHOD:
Possible Data Theft -
(06/02/06)
On May 22, 2006, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) published a
notice that electronic data on approximately 26.5 million veterans and some
spouses may have been compromised. The VA is working with law enforcement,
Congress, the media, veteran services, and other government agencies to
ensure that veterans and their families are protected against potential
misuse of that data. Please refer to the VA Web site at
www.va.gov for additional information on this security incident. While
no specific fraud related to the VA incident has been detected, the growing
trend of data breaches occurring in both the private and public sectors
raises concerns that personal information may be used to commit identity
theft.
The VA has set up a manned call center that veterans may call to get
information about this situation and learn more about consumer identity
protections. That toll-free number is 1-800-FED INFO (333-4636). The call
center will be open beginning May 23, and will operate from 8 am to 9 pm
(EDT), Monday-Saturday as long as it is needed.
LOSS PREVENTION
RECOMMENDATIONS
Member
-
Institute a Fraud Alert on your credit.
Before anyone can get a new credit card or loan in your name (including
you!), a lender will check your credit at one of the nation’s three
credit bureaus.
-
Consider freezing your credit.
This locks down your credit file so no one can see it, and no one can
grant credit in your name. Only after a detailed "thawing" process can a
consumer open the credit file for credit granting purposes.
Unfortunately, only a few states allow a credit freeze, and they can
cost money. But it’s the only thing a consumer can do proactively to
really prevent against identity theft. Equifax offers a great
state-by-state chart at a special Web site.
-
Check your monthly statements.
This is the one piece of advice that may not be very useful. An ID
thief who happens upon a set of data like this VA data — dates of birth,
names, and Social Security numbers — is very unlikely to drain your bank
account or run up charges on your credit card. It would take a lot of
work to find that information and connect it to your Social Security
number. Rather, this thief would set about creating new accounts
instead. He or she would just use the data to fill out credit card
applications, get cell phones, or obtain other new credit. So checking
your existing monthly statements, while always a good idea, isn’t much
help in this case. The only way to pick up that new account kind of
fraud is by regularly checking your credit report.
-
Regularly check your credit report.
Every American is entitled to one free copy of their credit report every
year at
www.annualcreditreport.com. That’s three looks altogether, since
you can get one copy from each bureau. So a strategy is to spread those
three out every four months. Since the reports largely overlap, that’s a
great way to see if there’s any new accounts on there that don’t belong.
-
Not every identity theft is revealed on credit
reports.
Social Security number-only ID theft, often utilized by illegal
immigrants, will not show up on a credit report.
-
The Federal Trade Commission recommends the
following four steps if you detect suspicious activity:
-
Step 1 – Contact the fraud department of one
of the three major credit bureaus:
-
Equifax:
1-800-525-6285;
www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
-
Experian:
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742);
www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, Texas 75013
-
TransUnion:
1-800-680-7289;
www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box
6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
Step 2 – Close any
accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
Step 3 – File a police
report with your local police or the police in the community where the
identity theft took place.
Step 4 – File a
complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by using the FTC's Identity
Theft Hotline by telephone: 1-877-438-4338, online at
www.consumer.gov/idtheft, or by mail at Identity Theft Clearinghouse,
Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20580
A new twist on phishing -
(5/17/2006)
Fraudsters are sending out e-mails that attempt to trick people into
sharing personal information over the phone.
Cloudmark, a San Francisco-based email security company stated that it
has seen two separate attacks this week. In this type of attack, a spammed
email message sent to the recipient warns of a problem with a bank account
and instructs the recipient to dial a phone number to resolve it. The caller
is then connected to a voice response system that is made to sound exactly
like the bank's own system. The phone system identifies itself to the target
as the financial institution and prompts them to enter account number and
PIN.
Please be advised of this new phishing method and take all precautions
when dealing with account and personal information. ECU Credit Union
suggests that people should not dial phone numbers received in an e-mail
message and should double-check the dial numbers printed on the ATM and
credit cards instead. If you have any questions regarding inquiries received
on your account either via telephone or email, please don’t hesitate to
contact your local branch or our Call Center at 1-800-382-2400 for
authentication.
YOU WON THE LOTTERY!! -
(5/17/2006)
You’ve just received an email from the Lottery in (fill in any foreign
country) that you don’t remember entering, but, who cares? You’re gonna be
rich!!
Unfortunately, this is a common scam that has been around for several
years. Each lottery e-mail or letter is rich in detail about when and where
the drawing was held, the lucky ticket numbers, how the fortunate person or
company name was included in the drawing, who was to pay out the funds, the
payer's phone and fax numbers plus his web site information, and how much
money is supposed to be coming. Most often, all the "supporting"
information is fictitious. However, in other cases, names of real lotteries
and banks are involved, and look-alike web sites accessed through URLs
similar to those of the real corporations or institutions are used by the
con artists as proof that the scheme is legitimate.
Those who try to collect their "winnings" soon find themselves receiving
e-mails or letters informing them that they have to pay facilitation fees
before the big payouts will come to them. There are no lottery winnings
waiting, but rather scam artists ready to trick people into wiring "handling
fees" directly into their accounts. The "lucky" winners scramble to pay the
fees while the clock is ticking, but they never receive any winnings.
The victim receives repeated cautions to keep matters confidential until
final payout is made, "as part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants." The
thieves don't want news of false winnings being told, because if the
information reaches the real lottery people, who will inform the victims
about the scheme.
The official cashiers type checks issued for payment are counterfeit.
Many of the counterfeit checks appear to be issued by credit unions. Credit
unions do not issue checks for lotteries.
A final word of advice…..if something seems too good to be true, it
probably is!
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