Identity Theft Warning Signs

• Fraudulent charges on your credit card statements.
• Credit card or financial statements don’t arrive.
• Suspicious inquiries on your credit report.
• Bills arrive for goods or services you didn’t request.
• Phone calls from creditors.
• Suddenly denied credit.

How To Guard Against Identity Theft

• Guard your social security number. Do not give your PIN or credit card numbers over the phone unless you initiated the transaction.
• Be very careful with receipts. Make sure you have them when you leave the store or ATM and do not throw them into public trash cans.
• Destroy pre-approved credit card offers before you throw them out. A home shredder is the best thing to use on financial statements, receipts and old cancelled checks that you are discarding.
• Account for all new checks for your checkbook when you receive them in the mail.
• Block your ATM transaction with your body to prevent someone from learning your PIN.
• Commit all passwords and PIN numbers to memory so no one can see them in writing.
• Be creative when you select a password. Don’t be obvious like using the last four digits of your social security number, phone number, address, birth date or any format that could be easily decoded by thieves.
• Remove mail promptly from your mailbox. Never use your mailbox for outgoing mail. Identity thieves raid mailboxes for credit card offers and financial statements.
• Protect your identification and credit cards from pickpockets. Close your wallet and keep your purse shut and close to your body.
• Limit the number of I.D. and credit cards that you carry. If they are stolen, you’ll have fewer to replace.
• If your social security number is used as your driver’s license number or appears on another I.D. card, ask the issuer for a new card with a different account number. If your social security number is printed on your checks, reorder checks without it. Also, if your driver’s license number is printed on your checks, consider removing it.
• Keep your birth certificate and social security card in a safe deposit box. Carry these items with you only on the days that you need them.
• Review your credit report each year. If someone is applying for credit in your name and you haven’t noticed any warning signs, a copy of your credit report may help point this out. You can obtain a FREE credit report once a year from each of the credit reporting agencies – Experian, Equifax and Trans Union.
  FREE Credit Report - Apply for your FREE credit report at www.AnnualCreditReport.com or call toll free at 877-322-8228.

Help Keep Online Transactions Secure

• Avoid sending sensitive information, such as account numbers, through unsecured e-mail.
• Passwords or PIN numbers should be used when accessing an account online.
• General security over your personal computer such as virus protection and physical access controls should be used and updated regularly.
• Read mail only from senders that you know.
• Do not open suspicious attachments. (If it is a friend, verify it first).

What To Do If You Are A Victim

• Contact your credit card company and your financial institution and close your accounts. The FBI suggests that you put passwords (not your mother’s maiden name) on any new accounts you open.
• Call the three major credit bureaus (numbers shown below) to tell them your identity has been stolen. Request that a “fraud alert” be placed on your file and that no new credit be granted without your approval.
  Equifax: 800-525-6285
  Experian: 888-397-3742
  Trans Union: 800-680-7289 or email FVAD@transunion.com, or by mail at Trans Union, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton CA 92834.
• Call the Social Security Fraud Hotline: 800-269-0271
• Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) theft hotline: 877-438-4338, www.consumer.gov/idtheft
• You should not only file a report with the police, but also get a copy of the report in case you need proof of the crime later for credit card companies, etc.

Phishing Scams
Phishing attacks are ‘spoofed’ e-mails and fraudulent websites designed to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data such as credit card numbers, account user names 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 up to 5% of recipients to respond to them.

How to Avoid Phishing Scams

• Be suspicious of any e-mail with urgent requests for personal financial information.
• Don’t use the links in an e-mail to get to a web page, if you suspect that a message might not be authentic.
• Always insure that you are using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your web browser.
• Regularly log on to your online accounts and check your financial institution credit and debit card statements to make sure that all transactions are legitimate.
• Sign up today and receive Internet Home Branching FREE Link for Internet Home Branching App.
• Make sure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied.
• Always report “phishing” or “spoofed” e-mails by forwarding the e-mail to the following groups:
  The anti-phishing network at: www.antiphishing.com
  The Federal Trade Commission at: www.consumer.gov/idtheft
  The Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI by filing a complaint on their website: www.ifccfbi.gov

Spyware
Spyware is software installed on a computer without the user’s knowledge, often through a virus or when a user downloads a free program. It is designed to let a hacker eavesdrop, collect personal or confidential information and perhaps track and record a user’s activities. Some spyware can obtain such information as passwords or credit card numbers. It also often bombards computer users with unwanted ads.

Avoid the risk of banking online on public computers like those in hotels, libraries or internet cafes where spyware might have been installed.

Pharming
Pharming is a twist of Phishing
Security experts are now concerned about a new internet-related fraud know as “Pharming.” Pharming attempts to fool online users through a virus that alters the behavior of internet browsers, thus, redirecting users to a fictitious site when they attempt to log on to their financial institutions web site.

This can be done by changing – or “poisoning” – some of the address information that internet service providers (ISPs) store to increase the speed of web browsing. Some ISPs and companies have a software bug on their computer servers that permits fraudsters to hack in and change those addresses.

One way consumers can protect themselves is to make sure they land on special secure web pages that use encryption to protect data transfer, a standard practice for any financial web site.

Always look for the lock icon which confirms that the site with its secure socket layer (SSL) certificate is secure for your information. The absence of this icon is a clue that something is wrong.

Guard Your Identity, Get Educated
To access an online education and awareness module, where you can get information about home computer firewalls, secure transactions, viruses, identity theft and more, click on the link below. Take the online Digital Defense quiz, return it to the credit union, and receive a FREE gift!