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“Phishing” is a form of Identity Theft where scammers use “official looking” email notices and websites to get consumers to divulge personal and financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords, social security numbers, or other sensitive data.
The emails usually state that there is a problem with your account and access will be limited until you update your information. They may contain a link for you to click on to update or verify your information. DO NOT CLICK this link.
Remember: TCT Federal Credit union will NEVER ask you to provide account or personal information in an unsolicited email or phone call.
Tips on avoiding being a victim:
- Be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls, visits, or email messages from individuals asking about employees or other internal information. If an unknown individual claims to be from a legitimate organization, try to verify his or her identity directly with the company.
- Do not provide personal information or information about your organization, including its structure or networks, unless you are certain of a person's authority to have the information.
- Do not reveal personal or financial information in email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information. This includes following links sent in email.
- Pay attention to the URL of a web site. Malicious web sites may look identical to a legitimate site, but the URL may use a variation in spelling or a different domain (e.g., .com vs. .net).
- Regularly log into, and inspect your online accounts.
- Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card statements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate. If anything is suspicious on your TCT accounts, contact your local TCT Branch. For credit card issues, contact your card issuers.
- Always ensure that you’re using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your web browser. To make sure you’re on a secure web server, check the beginning of the web address in your browsers address bar – it should begin with https:// rather than just http://
- If you are unsure whether an email request is legitimate, try to verify it by contacting the company directly. Do not use contact information provided on a web site connected to the request; instead, check previous statements for contact information. Information about known phishing attacks is also available online from groups such as the Anti-Phishing Working Group (http://www.antiphishing.org/phishing_archive.html).
- Install and maintain anti-virus software, firewalls, and email filters to reduce some of this traffic (see Understanding Firewalls, Understanding Anti-Virus Software, and Reducing Spam for more information).
What do you do if you think you are a victim?
- If you believe you might have revealed sensitive information about your organization, report it to the appropriate people within the organization, including network administrators. They can be alert for any suspicious or unusual activity.
- If you believe your financial accounts may be compromised, contact your financial institution immediately and close any accounts that may have been compromised. Watch for any unexplainable charges to your account.
- Be diligent in looking at your credit report.
- Consider reporting the attack to the police, and file a report with the Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov/).
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