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Don't Get Phished!!
Internet "phishing" scams are one of the fastest-growing frauds today. Never heard of "phishing"? Phishing typically involves a bogus email message that uses legitimate materials, such as a credit union or other organization's Web site graphics and logos in an attempt to entice email recipients to provide personal financial details, such as account information, credit cards, and Social Security numbers. These fraudsters are stealing the website graphics, corporate logos, and other materials from financial institutions, government agencies, retailers, credit card companies, and other organizations. These logos are used by the fraudsters to trick individuals into divulging personal financial information by responding to an "official-looking", but entirely bogus, email.
Here's how you can take some simple precautions to protect yourself:
1. Never respond to an unsolicited e-mail that asks for personal financial information.
2. Report anything that looks suspicious to the proper authorities. Alert the credit union or government agency identified in the suspect e-mail through a Web address or telephone number you know is legitimate.
3. Contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ifccfbi.gov- a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center - if you think you have received a phishing e-mail or have been directed to a phishy-looking Web site.
4. STOP, LOOK & CALL - Resist the urge to respond immediately to a suspicious e-mail, despite urgent or exaggerated claims. Look - read the text of the e-mail several times and ask yourself why the information requested would really be needed. Call - telephone the organization identified, using a number that you know to be legitimate.
Just remember - credit union members should never provide their personal information in response to an unsolicited telephone call, fax, letter, e-mail or Internet advertisement. If you have any doubts, please call us anytime!
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How Does the New Check 21 Affect You?
To make check processing faster, federal law permits financial institutions to replace original checks with "substitute checks." These checks are similar in size to original checks with a slightly reduced image of the front and back of the original check. The front on the check must contain legal verbiage that the check copy is a legal copy and may be used in the same way you would use an original check.
There are many good reasons for the creation of substitute checks. Currently, the check processing system relies on physically transporting paper checks from one location to the next; and, in the event of bad weather, the system can get bogged down. In addition to the time constraints, it costs millions of dollars every year to transport and process paper checks. As a result of authorizing substitute checks, the Check 21 Act will foster the electronic processing of checks because the substitute check process begins by creating an electronic image of the check. The electronic check image can be conveyed and processed electronically - decreasing processing time and transportation costs while reducing the likelihood of items being lost or destroyed in transit.
What does that mean to you?
In the majority of cases, this "substitute check process" will be transparent to you. However, it does mean it will take less time for checks to clear your account, a decrease of several days, in fact. Therefore, it becomes critical for money to be in your account when you write checks to avoid having checks "bounce" and/or incurring insufficient funds fees.
Don't become a TARGET of Fraud!
Get the information to help prevent becoming the next victim.
Don't Become a Victim of Identity Theft!
In the course of a busy day, you may write a check at the grocery store, charge tickets to a ball game, rent a car, mail your tax returns, change service providers for your cell phone, or apply for a credit card. Chances are you don't give these everyday transactions a second thought. But an identity thief does. Identity theft is a serious crime. People whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years and thousands of dollars cleaning up the mess that thieves have made of their good name and credit record. In the meantime, victims of identity theft may lose job opportunities, be declined loans for education, housing, or cars, and even get arrested for crimes they didn't commit. Humiliation, anger, and frustration are among the feelings victims experience as they navigate the process of rescuing their identity. Last year, an estimated 10 million Americans became victims of identity theft. On average, a victim spends $500 and 30 hours resolving the problems.
If you are a victim of identity theft, take the following four steps as soon as possible, and keep a record with the details of your conversations and copies of all correspondence.
Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1. Place a Fraud Alert on your credit reports, and review your credit reports.
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Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
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TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
2. Close the accounts that you know, or believe, to have been tampered with or opened fraudulently.
3. File a report with your local police or the local police in the community where the identity theft occurred.
4. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
You can file a complaint online at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. If you don't have Internet access, call the FTCs Identity Theft Hotline, toll-free: 1-877-IDTHEFT (438-4338); TTY: 1-866-653-4261; or write: Identity Theft Clearinghouse, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.
Be sure to call the Hotline to update your complaint if you have any additional information or problems.
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