[LISTEN] Coosa Pines Federal Credit Union launches Fraud Fighters

SYLACAUGA, Ala. – Coosa Pines Federal Credit Union (CPFCU) recently launched a new division of financial services dedicated to all things fraud called Fraud Fighters.

You can hear Michael Brannon talk with Aimee Morris and Misty Basinger on The MIX Morning Show about Fraud Fighters below.

Avoid Becoming a Victim

1. Block unwanted calls and text messages. Take steps to block unwanted calls and filter unwanted text messages.

2. Don’t give your personal or financial information in response to a request you didn’t expect. Honest organizations will not call, email, or text to ask for your personal information, such as your Social Security, bank account, or credit/debit card numbers.

If you get an email or text message from a company you do business with and you think it’s real, it’s still best not to click on any links. Instead, contact them using a website you know is trustworthy. Or look up their phone number. Please don’t call the number they gave you or the number from your caller ID.

3. Resist the pressure to act immediately. Honest businesses will give you time to decide. Anyone who pressures you to pay or give them your personal information is a scammer.

4. Know how scammers tell you to pay. Never pay someone who insists you can only pay with cryptocurrency, a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram, a payment app, or a gift card. And never deposit a check and send money back to someone.

5. Stop and talk to someone you trust. Before you do anything else, tell someone — a friend, a family member, a neighbor, or your credit union — what happened. Talking about it could help you realize it’s a scam.

Please take every opportunity to remind your friends and family that financial institutions will never call to ask for their complete account number, debit card number, Social Security number, PIN, passwords, etc. Financial institutions already have this information, but when you call them, they may ask for the last four digits of a number or the answer to security questions you’ve set up. If you are asked for more personal details or unfamiliar security questions, hang up and call your bank or credit union using the number you know to report the potential fraud.

Do you have questions about potential scams? Would you like a credit union professional to visit your group, meeting, or place of business to discuss fraud protection? Please email us at [email protected].