The credit union wishes all of our members a safe and joyous holiday season with family and friends. The holiday season unfortunately is a prime time for financial fraud. We urge members to review the below tips to prevent financial fraud:
- Avoid Mailing Paper Checks! Over the past year the credit union has cautioned members about mailing paper checks through the mail. Why? There has been a surge of checks being stolen out of residential mailboxes as well as the iconic blue U.S. Postal Service boxes. These checks are then “washed” (a process where a fraudster uses a chemical solvent to remove the payee name, amount, and other check details), and deposited fraudulently. Your credit union tracks fraud trends very closely, works with authorities and has some of the most stringent anti-fraud procedures in place. At this time we recommend that no paper checks be mailed. The trend of checks being stolen from the mail has been particularly acute in the New Jersey area and many of the checks that are stolen were mailed at U.S. Postal Office facilities. The U.S. Postal Service is working on improving security, but the best prevention is to avoid or at least limit mailing paper checks. In one recent example, a member mailed a check from the Linden, NJ area to a business in Toms River, NJ. The check was stolen, washed, a much larger amount was added, and the payee was changed. The fraudulent check was deposited at a bank ATM in Florida. This is an example of a stolen check that made its way many states away in just a few days. This problem is real and the credit union urges caution. There are many other methods today to make payments to businesses and individuals. Some members are fearful of electronic methods such as ACH and bill pay, but these systems come with excellent fraud prevention systems and the creditor or your credit union can more quickly intervene if there is a problem.
- Beware Text, Email and Phone Scams. This is not a new story, but the techniques continue to change. From fraudulent phone calls of a loved one in jail or an unpaid IRS tax bill, to the classic tech support phone call or Amazon order text, scammers simply want your information. No matter what the scenario, do not give out personal information to anyone you have any doubts about. One scam that has been particularly pervasive this year is when a company is impersonated (BestBuy’s GeekSquad is a popular one) and the consumer is told that the company has incorrectly billed them for a higher amount than they should have been billed or not been billed at all. They ask for account information to refund the funds into your account. Once the account information is compromised the fraud begins. The examples in this area are too numerous to mention here. The bottomline is do not give out any personal information to anyone that you did not initiate. The credit union is happy to take any inquiries from members who may be unsure and we are proud that we have helped many members avoid these situations.
- Crypto Scams. We know many people believe in crypto investment vehicles, but it’s important to recognize that there are many crypto scams happening today. One important thing to note here is some crypto scams are very hard to identify as members do see their money show up in some sort of crypto account, whether real or fake, but sadly they are later convinced to move the funds to another crypto platform or wallet and this is where the fraud occurs. The credit union has seen numerous examples of this this year. These scams did not happen overnight. Over a period of time money was moved to these so-called crypto exchanges or wallets and whether it’s positioned as a change of wallet or platform, the money is suddenly stolen. We will never advise members where to invest their money, but urge members to verify all companies they are working with to ensure that they are legitimate and viable. Members should be aware the credit union has stringent policies on wiring funds out of the credit union for your protection.
