Fraud Alert

It has come to our attention that some of our members have been victims of fraud recently through remote deposit scams. Be on the lookout for suspicious calls from a “representative of a loan company” asking for your personal information and offering to help you build your credit score. Scammers are using this tactic by saying they can help you build your credit score if you activate your remote deposit through the credit union.

Once the Remote Deposit is activated, the fraudster deposits fictitious and altered checks into the account and then has the member withdraw the funds quickly and purchase gift cards. Members are then contacted and requested to give the serial numbers of the gift cards to the fraudster. They are told by doing this it shows they are responsible and can manage money which will increase their credit score. This is false and not the case!

This is all completed before the checks get returned by the Federal Reserve to the Credit Union. Members are then unable to go through a fraud process with the credit union because they willingly participated in the activity under the falsities of the scammers. Members can only file a fraud scenario with the local police department. When the fictitious checks are returned by the Federal Reserve, the Credit Union must deduct the deposit amount from the member which puts their account in the negative by thousands of dollars.  This is typically transacted with multiple remote deposits that start out with a smaller amount and escalate as the deposits go through to the member’s account. It is a very rapid process in about a 24-hour period.

Here are tips to keep you and your accounts safe.