Protect Yourself from Phishing Attempts

Early indications are that fraudsters may be increasing phishing attacks in an effort to exploit the current COVID-19 pandemic. Fraudster emails and voice mails are sent directly to cardholders asking for personally identifiable information and impersonating the financial institutions, health groups, and federal government agencies.

Additionally, criminals in possession of card details and other forms of personal information are spoofing the phone number from financial institutions to fool cardholders into thinking that text messages and phone calls are actually from the fraud department of their financial institution.

Here are some of tips you can follow to protect your financial accounts and avoid compromising your information:

• Remain diligent and review accounts daily and quickly report any unauthorized activity.
• Neither Texas DPS Credit Union nor our fraud department will ever ask you over the phone for their PIN, CV2 codes (Security Code) or Expiration Dates.
•  A text alert warning of suspicious activity on a card will NEVER include:
  • A link to be clicked. Cardholders should never click on a link in a text message that is supposedly from us.
  • Vague reference to a “Merchant” transaction; details should be included
  • Requests for cardholder data such as card numbers, PINs, CV2 Codes, Expiration Date
• A text alert from us will always be from a 5-digit number and NOT a 10-digit number resembling a phone number.
  • A valid notification will provide information about the suspect transaction and ask the cardholder to reply to the text message with answers such as ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘help’, or ‘stop’.
• A phone call from one of our fraud department agents will only include a request for the cardholder Zip code, and no other personal information, unless the cardholder confirms that a transaction is fraudulent.
  • Only then will the cardholder be transferred to an agent, who will ask questions to confirm the cardholder’s identity before going through the transaction history. If, at any point the cardholder is uncertain about questions being asked or the call itself, they should hang up and call us directly.

If something sounds suspicious, question it. Call the Credit Union directly in regard to any suspicious communication you may have received.