Phishing & Spoofing Scams

Phishing

Phishing occurs when criminals create phony emails, text messages or phone calls that appear to come from a well-known source to trick their victims. They may appear to come from a financial institution, a creditor, government agency, or mortgage company, for example.

Their aim is to get the consumer to clicking a malicious link to a website, infect your computer with a virus and/or steal your bank account details and other personal identifying information.

Scammers may then use the information to open new accounts or invade the victim’s existing accounts.

Protect Yourself from Phishing

• Never respond to unexpected emails, text messages or phone calls requesting that you click links, open attachments or provide personal information.
• Practice good computer and email security, including using anti-virus software and keeping your computer up to date.
• Protect your online and mobile banking account by using multi-factor authentication, a second layer of protection that requires a secondary source of verification. Multi-factor authentication makes it harder for scammers to log in to your accounts if they do get your username and password.
• Check your accounts regularly. Personally check your activity through online banking or the mobile app often and review your account statements carefully.

Spoofing

Spoofing is when someone disguises an email address, sender name, phone number, or website URL to convince you that you are interacting with a trusted source.

A common type of spoofing is Caller ID Spoofing. This type of spoofing occurs with a when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. They may make it appear that they are calling from a local number or spoof a number from a company or a government agency that you may already know and trust. If you answer the call, they use scam scripts to try to steal your money or valuable personal information, which can be used in fraudulent activity.

Tips to Avoid Caller ID Spoofing

• Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately.
• If you answer the phone and the caller — or a recording — asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up. Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets.
• Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with "Yes" or "No."
• Never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden names, passwords or other identifying information in response to unexpected calls or if you are at all suspicious.
• If you get an inquiry from someone who says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company's or government agency's website to verify the authenticity of the request. You will usually get a written statement in the mail before you get a phone call from a legitimate source, particularly if the caller is asking for a payment.
• Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately.
• Talk to your phone company about call blocking tools and check into apps that you can download to your mobile device. The FCC allows phone companies to block robocalls by default based on reasonable analytics. More information about robocall blocking is available at fcc.gov/robocalls.

Need Assistance?

If you believe you are a victim of a fraud scam, contact us immediately by calling our Member Contact Center, starting a chat or sending us a message.

Learn More

Learn more about how to protect your money and personal information at our Security Center.