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Heartland Payment Systems Breach
February 27, 2009 – As first reported on Jan. 20, Heartland, the sixth-largest payments processor in the U.S., revealed that its processing systems were breached in 2008, exposing an undetermined number of consumers to potential fraud.
Foothill Federal Credit Union has no direct business affiliation with Heartland Payment Systems. Please feel secure knowing Foothill is closely monitoring the situation and always takes extra precaution in these instances. If your card is identified as part of the breach, the Credit Union will personally contact you. For more information regarding this breach, please visit www.2008breach.com.
Breach Causes Delay in Card Issuance
Due to the large system breach at Heartland many financial institutions are having to issue new cards for their cardholders which has caused a significant delay with Foothill's own members receiving their debit cards within the normal 7-10 business day delivery expectation. We apologize for this delay and we thank you for your patience.
Text Message and Email Fraud
February 6, 2009 – A few members have called into our call center stating that they recently received a text message from the California Credit Union. The text stated that there was an issue or compromise with their debit card. The text requested that they call
back at a fraudulent number where they were to divulge card number and I am sure pin as well. >> Read more from CUNA's website.
Do not reply or respond to these emails. Foothill FCU nor affiliates of Foothill FCU will never ask for your personal information.
Phishing Scam Detected
December 22, 2008 – A phishing-scam attempt using the Credit Union National Association's (CUNA) name has been spotted lurking member's emails. This fraudulent attempt to capture card numbers is done with an email to direct cardholders to call an automated telephone service. The message indicates the member’s card has been deactivated and in order to activate the card, the message asks the member to call the provided “Card Activation Line” phone number and enter their 16-digit card number, expiration date and PIN. The email looks as such.
Please do not respond to these emails or call the number as instructed. As a trade association for U.S. credit unions, CUNA does not maintain any type of customer/member financial information. If you encounter such emails, please give us a call at 866.995.3328 immediately. Do not click on the links or call the number indicated.
International Phishers Caught
May 21, 2008
A ring of international scam artists have been charged with stealing personal information using a practice called phishing. ► Read the news article
Extortion Email
Nov. 12, 2007 - Hitman Extortion Email
The FBI has been made aware of a spam email attempting to extort money from professionals, including bankers, dentists, and doctors, using the professionals personal email accounts. In this "spear phishing" scam, scammers target a specific group of people. The email purports to be from a “hitman” and provides accurate information about the victim including complete name. The email threatens to complete his contract unless the victim sends $80,000. The email alleges that once the money is received, the victim would be safe. It further advised the victim would never hear from the sender again.
Loss Prevention Recommendations:
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These emails are an attempt to extort money. Do not follow the instructions.
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Do not correspond with the sender.
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Report receipt of email to local law enforcement and FBI.
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Be cautious - protect personal identity when responding to requests or special offers delivered through unsolicited email.
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Guard your personal information as well as your account information carefully.
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Keep a list of all your credit cards and account information along with the card issuer's contact information.
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If your monthly statement looks suspicious or you lose your card(s), contact the issuer immediately.
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If you have received this, or a similar hoax, please file a complaint at http://www.ic3.gov/. or contact your credit union.
Email Scam Alert
Oct. 31, 2007 - New Email Scam Alert: Card Activation
A new phishing-scam attempt using the Credit Union National Association's (CUNA) name informs recipients about "irregular check card activity" and advises them to call a toll-free number to get any restrictions removed. The message says,
"We detected irregular activity on check card on Oct. 25/2007. For your protection, you must reactivate your card. Call us immediately at 1.866.840.2863. We will review the activity on your account with you and upon verification, we will remove any restrictions placed on your account. Please disregard this notice if you have already accessed the website or spoken with one of our representatives."
Please do not respond to these emails. As a trade association for U.S. credit unions, CUNA does not maintain any type of customer/member financial information. In addition, Foothill FCU would never request personal identification information over the phone. If you encounter such emails, please give us a call at 866.995.3328 immediately. Do not click on the links or call the number indicated.
Recently, there have been multiple e-mail fraud attempts, known as "Phishing”, that were initiated via e-mail sent to both the general public and to some credit union members that appeared to be from The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). This false e-mail asked for the recipient to click on a link to verify their credit union account registration. If the recipient proceeded to do so, the link directed them to a false website and asked for their credit union account number and PIN, along with other personal information.
Foothill Federal Credit Union does not ask credit unions members for such personal information. Anyone who receives an e-mail from Foothill Federal Credit Union or NCUA and asks for account information should consider it to be a fraudulent attempt to obtain their personal account data for an illegal purpose and should not follow the instructions in the e-mail.
Currently, we do not believe that any of our members have been affected by this scam. However, if you have responded to such an e-mail and provided any confidential account information, please notify Foothill Federal Credit Union immediately of the scheme.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your identity. In phishing scams, scam artists try to get you to disclose valuable personal data—like credit card numbers, passwords, account data, or other information—by convincing you to provide it under false pretenses. Phishing schemes are delivered online through spam email or pop-up windows.
How does Phishing work?
A phishing scam sent by email may start with con artists who send millions of email messages that appear to come from popular web sites or sites that you trust. The email messages, pop-up windows, and the web sites they link to appear official enough that they deceive many people into believing that they are legitimate, and may even be from a business or organization that you deal with—for example, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), credit union or bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message usually says that you need to “update” or “validate” your account information, and then directs you to a web site that looks just like a legitimate organization’s site, but it isn’t. Unsuspecting people respond to these requests for their credit card numbers, passwords, account information, or other personal data. The criminals use your personal information to steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name.
How to avoid getting hooked
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), suggests these tips to help you avoid getting hooked by a phishing scam:
- If you get an email or pop-up message that asks for personal or financial information, do not reply or click on the link in the message. Legitimate companies don’t ask for this information via email. If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization in the email using a telephone number you know to be genuine, or open a new internet browser session and type in the company’s correct web address. In any case, don’t cut and paste the link in the message.
- Please be aware that Foothill Federal Credit Union never asks for your personal or account information via email. Furthermore, we ask that you do not send personal information through email, as it is not a secure method of transmitting financial information. Our home banking site, Foothill@Home, provides a secure environment for conducting transactions and reviewing account information. If you receive a suspicious email or pop-up window that appears to be from us, we encourage you not to reply, and contact Foothill Federal Credit Union at 626-445-0950 or email us at cu@foothillcu.org to determine its legitimacy.
- Review credit card and account statements as soon as you receive them to determine whether there are any unauthorized charges. If your statement is late by more than a couple of days, call your credit union, credit card company, or bank to confirm your billing address and account balances.
- Use anti-virus software and keep it up to date. Some phishing emails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the internet without your knowledge. Anti-virus software and a firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files. Anti-virus software scans incoming communications for troublesome files. Look for anti-virus software that recognizes current viruses as well as older ones, that can effectively reverse the damage, and that updates automatically. A firewall helps make you invisible on the internet and blocks all communications from unauthorized sources. It’s especially important to run a firewall if you have a broadband connection. Finally, your operating system (like Windows or Linux) may offer free software “patches” to close holes in the system that hackers or phishers could exploit.
- Be cautious about opening any attachment or downloading any files from emails you receive, regardless of who sent them. Report suspicious activity to the FTC.
- If you get spam that is phishing for information, forward it to spam@uce.gov.
- If you believe you’ve been scammed, file your complaint at www.ftc.gov.
- You can also visit the FTC’s Identity Theft web site at www.consumer.gov/idtheft to learn how to minimize your risk of damage from ID theft.
- Visit www.ftc.gov/spam to learn other ways to avoid email scams and deal with deceptive spam.