Fraud Prevention Tips

Fraud Prevention Tips, Resources and Recommendations

Below you'll find articles about tactics cyber criminals are using to deceive their victims, ways to safeguard your information and other helpful resources. You can also subscribe and receive the latest news regarding fraud schemes and cyber-attacks directly to your email inbox.

What You can do to Protect Yourself

Today's cyber criminals continuously try new approaches and tactics to take advantage of unknowing consumers. While their methods are always evolving, the below tips are still helpful in safeguarding your accounts and information.

Never respond to emails or text messages you didn't initiate asking for personal banking or credit card information, including credit card numbers, one-time passcodes, and PINs.
Be wary of promotional scams. Identity thieves may use phony offers, over-the-phone, through email, via text message, etc., to get you to give them your personal information. Scammers may try to impersonate family and friends! If you didn't ask grandma for $50, don't respond to her text requests to enter the passcode you just received to claim it! (Instead, reach out to grandma directly to verify the validity of the text.)
Enter your personal information only on secure websites. Look for the “lock” icon on the browser or “https” at the beginning of the website address to ensure the site is secure.
Never use email to send your confidential information, since internet email is not secure. To send us a secure message, use the Contact Us section of this website or use the Digital Banking Message Center.
Do not open emails or text messages if you don’t recognize the sender’s name. When in doubt, delete!
Change passwords regularly using a mix of upper- and lower-case characters and numbers. Use passwords that are not easily guessed. Do not share password information with anyone. Do not use the same passwords for multiple websites.
Update anti-virus software and security patches to your system software regularly. Also, perform software updates to your mobile devices, too, to avoid malware specifically targeting them.
Review your credit report at least once a year and tear up or shred any pre-approved credit offers that you do not want.
Check your monthly statements to verify all transactions are ones you recognize and notify us of any suspicious activity.
Limit the amount of identification and the credit cards you carry.
Identity thieves are known to steal mail or go through the trash looking for private information. Consider installing a locking mailbox and shred unwanted statements, receipts. and other documents with your information on them before you throw them out.
Report lost or stolen checks and credit cards immediately (you can do it through Digital Banking). In addition, report identity theft incidents to the credit bureaus. Consider placing alerts or taking other actions suggested by the bureaus to protect your credit (contact the bureaus directly for more information).
Follow the ATM safety tips list on this page. Let us know if you see a problem with any of our branch units. For instance, let us know if a light is not working or there is any damage to the machine. Please report any suspicious activity or crimes to the branch manager. If we're closed and you see a crime being committed, call 911 and report it immediately.

Password Tips:

A strong password is an important step in protecting your accounts and blocking fraudulent transactions. Here are some points to consider in creating a strong password:

Length. Make your passwords at least 12 or more characters.

Complexity. Include upper- and lower-case letters, punctuation, symbols, and numbers. If the system you're using allows it, use the entire keyboard and include punctuation, symbols and numbers. The greater the variety of characters in your password, the better. However, note that password hacking software automatically checks for common letter-to-symbol conversions, such as changing “and” to “&” or “to” to “2.”

Frequency. Change passwords regularly. Set an automatic reminder to change your passwords to access things like your email, accounts, and credit card websites.

As a best practice, InTouch members who use our Digital Banking platform are required to change their password at least every 12 months. Members can certainly change passwords more often but required too at least annually.

Variety. Don’t use the same password for everything. The first thing a cybercriminal will do with a stolen password is try it on all of the other sites they have access to. At the very least, change a few characters of any base password so each one is at least somewhat unique.

There are many ways to create a secure password; below are some suggestions for creating one that are only meaningful to you and easily remembered:

Examples:

Start with a sentence
Passwords that are complex are safe

Remove spaces in the sentence
Passwordsthatarecomplexaresafe

Use shorthand or misspell word
Passwordsthatrcompleksrsafe

Add a number that is meaningful
Passwordsthatrcompleksrsafe1951 (Date of birth for example)

Cyber criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly decipher passwords. Avoid passwords that use the following protocol:

Words spelled backwards

Common misspellings, and abbreviations

Sequences or repeated characters. (Ex: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard – QWERTY).

Personal information – your name, birthday, driver’s license, passport number, or similar information.

For more assistance, call the Contact Center team, at 800-337-3328.

Phishing

Phishing is where criminals attempt to collect account numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), usernames, passwords and other important information from individuals via faulty emails, websites, phone calls, links, etc. They then use the compromised information to access your Digital Banking accounts and/or commit identity fraud.

Remember, ITCU will NEVER contact you to verify security information such as account numbers, passwords or other personal information, we already have such information on file. Security verification information should only be requested when you initiate the contact with the credit union. If you become locked out of Digital Banking, you will be notified during the login process, not by an unsolicited email. If ITCU sends you a text message fraud alert, it should only ask you to verify the validity of your most recent transaction via a “yes” or “no” response.

If you receive a phishing email or text that has asked for your information, links you to an unknown website or has illegally used our name, logo or website, please notify us immediately.

If you ever have any concerns about the authenticity of any communication you receive listed as from InTouch Credit Union, please type in ITCU.org into your web browser (do not click any suspicious email links) and use the Contact Us icon found on the homepage. Or you can call the ITCU Contact Center at 800-337-3328 and we will be happy to verify any email, phone call, text, etc., in order to help protect you from fraud.