Preventing fraud

Protect yourself

Preventing fraud starts with you

Identity theft and financial scams are among the fastest growing crimes in North America. These tips will help you be prepared and proactive, so you can protect yourself.

Fraudulent telephone calls

As much as we love talking to our members, we will never call to ask for personal or financial information such as account, credit card, and PIN/PAC numbers. Never give this information out over the phone. Here’s what you should do if this happens:

• Ask for the name and phone number of the caller
• Ask to set up an appointment with East Coast CU
• Notify East Coast CU immediately: 1-866-230-7700

Online fraud, email fraud, and phishing

Emails and texts designed to lure you to click through to a false, harmful site are a particular kind of fraud called phishing—and they can even make it through junk mail filters. Banks and credit unions never ask for account, credit card, and PIN/PAC numbers over email or text. Never give out this information over email or click on suspicious links. These messages could appear to be from your credit union or even your closest friends and family. Here’s what you should do:

• Take a safety-first approach when a message asks for information
• Look out for poor grammar or spelling, warning or alert messages, and promises that sound to good to be true
• If a message seems suspicious, delete it and call your branch to find out if it’s legitimate
• Always read the fine print when signing up for free trials and other subscriptions
• Never click a link or open an attachment from an unknown or unexpected sender

Identity theft

Identity theft can happen when criminals get your personal banking information through a fraudulent phone call, letter or email, or even by rifling through your garbage. Scammers then use this information to access your accounts, establish credit, make purchases, or borrow money in your name.

East Coast CU goes to great lengths to protect and secure your financial and personal data. Some common methods identity thieves use include:

• Fraudulent telephone calls, letters, texts, or emails that ask for your personal banking information
• Posing as a landlord, potential employer, etc
• Stealing your purse, wallet, mail, or any other source of personal information
• Rifling through your garbage
• Hacking into unsecured websites you have visited and entered information into
• Phising messages, as noted above

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself from identity theft:

• Sign credit cards when they arrive
• Safely discard all personal materials and consider using a shredder
• Review your account and credit card statements regularly and advise your financial institution of any discrepancies immediately (often, there is a limited time frame for you to dispute transactions)
• Protect your PIN and passwords and never share them with anyone
• Check your credit report annually for free through a credit bureau such as Equifax or TransUnion
• Report any theft of personal information to your local police, your financial institutions, the credit bureaus, and any service providers you use