Don't let the Grinch steal your account information

The holiday season is upon us, and while the twinkling lights and festive decorations bring joy, they also usher in the busiest season for fraud. Criminals are like modern-day Grinches, eagerly waiting to snatch your personal information and wreak havoc on your finances. To protect your accounts, be wary of the following fraud scheme:

What is an “account takeover?”
An account takeover happens when a fraudster poses as a financial institution to get your personal or account information. Once the fraudster has access to your account, they can make unauthorized transactions.

How Does It Work?

Here's how it usually works:

• Fraudsters will email or send texts to you appearing to come from the credit union, warning you of suspicious debit card transactions.

• Fraudsters then make a follow-up phone call to those who respond to the text, spoofing the credit union’s phone number and pretend to be from the credit union’s fraud department.

• Claiming the need to "verify your identity," the fraudster asks for your online banking username and informs you that you will receive a passcode via text or email that you must provide it to the fraudster. In reality, the fraudster has initiated the forgot password feature, that generates a 2-step authentication passcode which is delivered to you.

• If you provide the passcode to the fraudster, they can then use it to log in to your account using a device not recognized by the host system.

• Upon logging into your account, the fraudsters lock you out of your account by changing the digital banking password and then use bill pay, P2P, or external transfers to transfer funds out of your account.

Fort Worth City Credit Union will NEVER ask for your personal information such as digital banking security codes, passwords or PINs by text or phone call.

How Can You Prevent Account Takeover Fraud?

• If someone claiming to be from Fort Worth City Credit Union contacts you by phone, email, or text message and wants you to share your personal information such as your security codes, passwords, or PINs, consider it fraud.

• If you receive a text (or email) like the one described above, do not reply to the sender. Ignore the message and do not call any phone numbers listed in the text.

• If you receive a phone call that seems to be a phishing attempt, end the call immediately. And be aware that caller ID can be misleading: phone numbers can be spoofed and do not guarantee the caller is authentic.

AVOID FRAUD: Do not share your personal information with anyone you suspect might be posing as the credit union. Hang up and contact us directly.