Current ScamsTuesday, July 20, 2010 — The latest phone scam targets your credit union account. The FBI has reported a new twist in the way fraudsters are accessing member and small to medium sized business accounts at credit unions and other financial institutions. The new scheme uses telecommunications denial-of-service (TDoS) attacks and fraudsters are able to compromise a member’s account and change the victims profile information (mailing address, e-mail address or telephone number). These TDoS attacks use automated dialing systems to overwhelm a victim's cell phone and land lines with thousands of calls and the member is ultimately forced to change his number to terminate the attacks. Below is a brief summary of the facts and the complete alert published by the FBI can be reviewed by visiting this link: How the scam works: A fraudster obtains a member’s personal account information (phone numbers, account numbers and possibly a password) through some form of social engineering. The member or a small business owner may have responded to a fictitious e-mail or provided personal information during a telephone call. The fraudster then uses automated dialing programs to overwhelm a member’s cell phone number or land line. When answered, the member hears dead air or some innocuous recording, advertisement or a telephone sex menu. These calls are so numerous that the victim often decides to change their telephone number. The fraudster, then posing as the member, contacts the credit union to make withdrawals or wire transfers without the knowledge of the actual member. Often, the credit union attempts to call the member and confirm the transaction or wire but due to the problems with the phone, the credit union cannot get through to the member. If the transaction does not go through, the fraudster will contact the credit union, impersonating the member and verbally request that the transactions be completed. Sometimes, they will advise that their telephone number has changed and request the credit union to update their personal data file. The fraudsters then simply wait for the credit union to call them to confirm the transfer request. The FBI has teamed up with the Communication Fraud Control Association comprised of security professionals from communication providers to analyze these telephone denial-of-service attacks and their intent is to educate the public and make every effort to identify the fraudsters who are causing these losses. Simple reminders that will help reduce the risk of loss is to:
If you have been targeted by a telephone denial-of-service attack, contact your financial institution and your telephone provider, and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at this link:
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 — NCUA warns of fraudulent e-mail activity. NCUA yesterday said e-mails from simulated NCUA e-mail boxes to members of credit unions may be an attempt to obtain members’ confidential data. The e-mails solicit credit union members’ participation in an online survey or member survey and promise compensation of $40 for responding. “The emails are fraudulent,” NCUA said. “NCUA does not solicit such information from credit union members. This is a phishing activity with no NCUA activity or approval.” NCUA said anyone receiving these phishing e-mails should not respond to them. Questions can be sent to NCUA at pacamail@ncua.gov.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 — Counterfeit Cashier’s Check. We have been made aware that someone in the Las Vegas area has been making counterfeit Nevada Federal Credit Union cashier’s checks and disbursing them. We have received calls from two different financial institutions to verify these counterfeit checks. These are cashier’s checks, not personal checks. If you receive a cashier’s check with a Nevada Federal name and logo, please call the credit union to verify its authenticity. We will be happy to help you.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 — Mystery/Secret Shopper Schemes. The IC3 has been alerted to an increase in employment schemes pertaining to mystery/secret shopper positions. Many retail and service corporations hire evaluators to perform secret or random checks on themselves or their competitors, and fraudsters are capitalizing on this employment opportunity. Victims have reported to the IC3 they were contacted via e-mail and U.S. mail to apply to be a mystery shopper. Applicants are asked to send a resume and are purportedly subject to an extensive background check before being accepted as a mystery shopper. The employees are sent a check with instructions to shop at a specified retailer for a specific length of time and spend a specific amount on merchandise from the store. The employees receive instructions to take note of the store’s environment, color, payment procedures, gift items, and shopping/carrier bags and report back to the employer. The second evaluation is the ease and accuracy of wiring money from the retail location. The money to be wired is also included in the check sent to the employee. The remaining balance is the employee’s payment for the completion of the assignment. After merchandise is purchased and money is wired, the employees are advised by the bank the check cashed was counterfeit, and they are responsible for the money lost in addition to bank fees incurred. In other versions of the scheme, applicants are requested to provide bank account information to have money directly deposited into their accounts. The fraudster then has acquired access to these victims’ accounts and can withdraw money, which makes the applicant a victim of identity theft. Once the pop-up appears it cannot be easily closed by clicking “close” or the “X” button. If the user clicks on the pop-up to purchase the software, a form is provided that collects payment information and the user is charged for the bogus product. In some instances, whether the user clicks on the pop-up or not, the scareware can install malicious code onto the computer. By running your computer with an account that has rights to install software, this issue is more likely to occur. Tips Here are some tips you can use to avoid becoming a victim of employment schemes associated with mystery/secret shopping:
Individuals who believe they have information pertaining to mystery/secret shopper schemes are encouraged to file a complaint at www.IC3.gov.
Monday, January 4, 2010 — Official warns of fraudulent letter offering tax savings. Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto on Thursday warned consumers about a fraudulent letter offering to lower property taxes for homeowners. The official-looking letters are being sent out by “Homeowners Property Tax Review,” claiming taxpayers can save hundreds of dollars on their property taxes for a $179 fee. Interested homeowners must sign and return the letter within two weeks, according to the letter. The promised savings are based on faulty information and the Nevada property owner will probably see no tax savings, according to the attorney general’s office. Consumer who paid the fee should call the Nevada attorney general’s Bureau of Consumer Protection at (775) 684-1169.
Thursday, December 31, 2009 — Phishing scam targeting Android-based mobile devices. In the first and second weeks of December 2009, a developer using the Android platform deployed “shells” of mobile banking applications in an attempt to fraudulently gain access to sensitive personal financial information. This phishing attack was launched from the Android Marketplace. Your mobile device may be at risk if you downloaded an application provided by 09Droid from the Android Marketplace; applications from 09Droid are NOT an authorized or legitimate downloadable application for SilverLink Mobile Banking. If you think your mobile device has been affected, please immediately contact us and change your mobile banking login password. We also recommend that you immediately remove the application from your mobile device, take it to your mobile provider and have the technical team evaluate the phone to make sure the application is completely removed and has not compromised any other applications or records within the phone. To summarize: the browser-based SilverLink Mobile Banking solution provided by Nevada Federal to its members remains fully secure. Nevada Federal members still have secure access to our mobile banking via their Android device, using your mobile web browser interface. This downloadable hacking/phishing effort by 90Droid represents an attempt to gain access to credit cards and account numbers through the emerging Android platform. We recommend that members with Android devices access their accounts (or perform other e-commerce related activities) ONLY through the web browser interface, instead of a downloadable application, until the Android platform has been proven secure for financial transactions.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 — Property Tax Savings Fraud scam. We have been getting inquiries from members regarding a company called the Property Tax Review Board. They are offering to reduce a homeowner’s property taxes for a fee of $189.00. This is a scam. You can read the Nevada Attorney General’s alert regarding this scam by clicking here.
Monday, August 24, 2009 — Smishing scam. A member received a text purportedly from the credit union indicating that their credit card has been deactivated. The text message directed them to a phone number where they where asked to key in their card information. This is a Smishing scam. See our Phishing / Smishing / Vishing / Pharming section further below for more information. Phishing / Smishing / Vishing / Pharming“Phishing” is a virtual trap set by cyber thieves that uses official-looking e-mails to lure you to fake web sites and trick you into revealing your personal information. “Smishing” is a form of criminal activity using techniques similar to phishing. The name is derived from “SMS phISHING”. SMS (Short Message Service) is the technology used for text messages on cell phones. Similar to phishing, smishing uses cell phone text messages to deliver the “bait” to get you to divulge your personal information. The “hook” (the method used to actually “capture” your information) in the text message may be a web site URL, however it has become more common to see a phone number that connects to automated voice response system. “Vishing” uses telephone systems. A vishing scam occurs when a consumer receives a recorded message telling them a credit card and/or financial institution account has been breached and to immediately call a number provided in the message. The phone number leads the consumer to a fraudulent call center where people are asked to supply or verify pertinent financial account, social security or credit card information. Like phishing, “pharming” coerces victims into visiting a fake web site and supplying information. However, instead of tricking recipients into clicking on an e-mail link, pharming can secretly redirect victims to a fraudulent web site directly from their web browser. Pharming effectively eliminates the need for “bait” e-mails and is therefore potentially more dangerous than “normal” phishing scams and can cast a wider “net” in which to snare victims. Even phishing-savvy web users could fall victim to a pharming scam without realizing it. In order to make pharming work, scammers may compromise a victim’s system directly by secretly installing malicious software on his or her computer or modifying the browser’s hosts file. This means that even if you manually enter the web address of your bank or financial institution directly into your browser, or click on a saved bookmark, it is possible that a pharming attack could cause your browser to unobtrusively redirect to a fraud site. If the scam site is made to resemble the legitimate web site of the targeted institution, a victim could enter account numbers, passwords and other sensitive information before he or she realized what was happening. Currently, pharming does not appear to be as common as phishing. To help protect yourself from pharming, you should make sure that the secure web site you are visiting has a valid certificate of authority from a trusted service such as VeriSign. Before entering sensitive personal data on the web site, click the “lock” icon in the browser’s status bar to view the certificate. Ensure that the name on the certificate corresponds to the site you are viewing. You should also run anti-virus and anti-spyware software, keep your operating system and browser updated with the latest security patches and use a reliable firewall. NFCU does not ask credit union members for personal information. Anyone who receives a supposed e-mail or phone call from NFCU that asks for account information should consider it a fraudulent attempt to obtain their personal account data for an illegal purpose and should not follow the instructions in the e-mail, letter or phone call. IMPORTANT:If you inadvertently respond and provide confidential account information, please notify NFCU immediately. You should change affected accounts and PINs, and take any additional action recommended to protect your account(s). If you feel that you have received a fraudulent NFCU e-mail, please forward the entire e-mail message to fraud-security@nevadafederal.org. Additionally, you can file formal complaints concerning any suspected fraudulent e-mail with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at http://www.ic3.gov. The IC3 is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Fake Lottery Scam – “You Won the Lottery”Illegal lotteries operate from locations all over the world and notify “winners”, with enticing language that they’ve won a lump-sum of cash or that they could win money by using a secret system to win, via the mail, phone or Internet. Sometimes the enticements are about phony lotteries in the United States, but they can be from as far away as Australia and Europe. These lottery solicitations violate US law, which prohibits the cross-border sale or purchase of lottery tickets by phone or mail.
More info…“Congratulations! You have won the lottery!” These are words that we would all love to hear. Becoming rich that quickly is something that many people dream of, but some things are too good to be true. One way that fraudsters like to deceive people is by convincing them that something great has happened to them. There are variations on this scheme, but it is substantially the same, no matter how you look at it. Imagine, you have had a rough day at work. You come home and check your mail. Along with your usual bills, you find an envelope with your name on it. The stamp has come from Canada or Great Britain. You open it and find a letter and a check made payable to you between two and five thousand dollars. The letter is informing you that you have won the lottery! All you have to do is cash the check at your bank and pay the lottery tax by wiring money overseas. Once you do this, they will send the winnings to you. “Can this be true?” you ask yourself. You doubt that it is real, but then the stack of unpaid bills on the table catches your eye. “What do I have to loose?” you think. So, you take the check down to your branch and cash it. You follow the instructions on the letter and wire the money via Western Union or Money Gram. A few days later, you get a letter from the collections department at the Credit Union. It informs you that you have had a check bounce and your account is negative. Now on top of your usual bills, you have to pay the Credit Union back money that you didn’t even get to spend! This happens all too often. ALL of these letters that come with checks are fraud schemes. The stories vary, but they are all bad. Sometimes they say that you have had a relative that you have never heard of pass away and leave you a large sum of money. All you have to do is cash the check and wire back the inheritance tax. Others may seem legitimate. Some even advertise as secret shopping or work from home companies on jobsites like Monster.com. Though the stories change, the scheme is the same. You get a check in the mail and you cash it at the bank. Then you wire most of it to someone, usually overseas. Being aware of these schemes can help protect you from loosing money that you cannot afford to loose. We cannot stop unscrupulous people from using these tactics, but we can be aware so that we do not fall victim to them ourselves. Some things really can be too good to be true. Fake Check ScamsThe National Consumers League reports that fake check scams now rank as one of the top most common Internet fraud scams. Fake check scams are clever ploys designed to steal your money. You can avoid becoming a victim by recognizing how the scam works and understanding your responsibility for the checks that you deposit in your account. If someone you don’t know wants to pay you by check but wants you to wire some of the money back, beware! It’s a scam that could cost you thousands of dollars. How do fake check scams work? There are many variations of these scams, but they usually start with someone offering to:
How do scammers get my money?
If the check or money order turns out to be fake, isn’t that the credit union’s problem? You are responsible for the checks and money orders you deposit. That’s because you’re in the best position to determine how risky the transaction is — you’re the one dealing directly with the person who is arranging for the payment to be sent to you. When a check or money order bounces, you owe your credit union the money you withdrew. The credit union may be able to take it from your account or another account to offset the loss in order to prevent possible legal action. In some cases, law enforcement authorities could bring charges against the victims because it may look like they were involved in the scam and knew the check or money order was counterfeit. How can I protect myself from fake check scams?
If you think someone is trying to pull a fake check scam, don’t deposit it — report it! Contact us at (800) 388-3000 and the National Consumers League’s National Fraud Information Center at http://www.fraud.org or call (800) 876-7060. |
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Your savings federally insured to at least $250,000 and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government. National Credit Union Administration, A U.S. Government Agency. Individual Retirement Accounts are separately insured up to $250,000 by the NCUA. We Do Business in Accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Law and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Copyright © 1999-2010 Nevada Federal Credit Union. All Rights Reserved. |
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