Phishing
What is phishing
Phishing (pronounced “fishing”) is when a criminal uses legitimate looking emails, text messages, or phone calls to try and get your private information, like passwords or credit card numbers.
These fraud attempts appear to be from your financial institution, a government office, an online retailer, or even SECU.
How phishing scams work
Email phishing scams
A phishing email tries to get you to click on a fraudulent or compromised link.
Phishing emails often create a sense of urgency by warning you of a threat or problem that you need to resolve ASAP.
Once you click through to the scam website, any information you enter is captured by the criminals and can be used for fraudulent purposes.
Or, the link may infect your device, giving the criminals direct access to all your files, data, and accounts.
How to identify phishing emails
- URLs (website addresses) that don’t 100% match a company’s address
- Misspellings, bad grammar, or other poorly written email copy
- Links that don’t allow you to see a preview of where they go
- Request to download a file
- Request to reply with personal information directly
- A request to do something big (send money, change accounts, etc.) immediately
Text or phone phishing scams
Fake text messages work like email by trying to get you to click on a compromised link.
Phishing texts may also ask you to respond with personal information like PIN, Social Security number, password, or account number.
Scammers make their call or text look real with phone number spoofing, where they fake the caller ID information to make it appear the call or text is coming from a trusted financial institution.
How to identify phishing texts or phone calls
- They threaten you with bad consequences if you don’t act now
- They ask for payment through gift cards or cash advances
- The phone number is more than 10 digits long
- They ask for sensitive personal information
These short videos show examples that will help you identify and avoid common phishing scams.
Report phishing attempts
If you receive an unexpected or suspicious email, text message, or call, either ignore it or contact us at 800-879-7328 for advice. Do not respond or provide any personal information.
How do I know if a call, text, or email from SECU is legitimate?
SECU will never contact our members to request personal information such as account numbers, passwords, debit or credit card numbers, expiration dates, or personal identification numbers (PIN).
If you receive a communication that appears to be from us, but you suspect it’s not, ignore it and call us at 800-879-7328. We will help you verify if it is legitimate or not.
