As fraud continues to increase across the country and the globe it’s no surprise that scammers fix their eyes on high-prized targets- people's bank accounts.

Financial institutions make a strong effort to keep your financial accounts safe from threats, but you’re still the last line of defense when it comes to safeguarding your membership.  

Links: 

• Learn more about Triangle's Better Checking account with identity theft protection

Welcome to Money Tip Tuesday from the Making Money Personal podcast.  

We’ve seen increased fraud activity over the past year. Scammers are using advanced and convincing techniques to trick unsuspecting members into handing over their personal banking information. 

One particular tactic we’ve seen is fraudsters calling or texting members, posing as employees from the TCU Fraud Department, and have replicated our 603-889-2470 phone number. Once the conversation starts, the fraudsters request confidential online banking information and passcodes. 

Some who have received these alarming calls and texts inadvertently provide all the requested information.  

As a result, the fraudster uses the login information to access the accounts and steal their money. 

Unfortunately, these convincing threats have continued to hit unsuspecting victims and there’s no reason to think that threats like this will decrease over time. 

As a member, it’s important that you stay aware of these tactics so if you ever receive one of these calls or texts, you’ll know the proper actions to take. 

Keep these following key steps top of mind to safeguard your membership and personal information. 

• Do not provide your online banking credentials, one-time passcodes, or multi-authentication codes to anyone over the phone or text, regardless of who they claim to be. 

• If you receive a suspicious phone call, hang up immediately or ask the caller for a return phone number. After disconnecting the call, contact the credit union through secure email within online banking, or call the number found on the credit union’s website. 

• If you receive an alarming text, do not open it and delete it immediately. Triangle does not use text messaging, commonly referred to as SMS, to communicate with members. 

• Get identity theft protection. Even the most guarded person can become a victim through channels outside of their own control. Having identity monitoring and id protection benefits can keep you aware of anything suspicious that may happen with your identity and provide resources and assistance to deal with any resolution. Triangle offers Better Checking with Identity theft protection through ID protect that can serve as an additional layer of defense between you and the dangerous effects of ID theft. 

• Lastly, become familiar with the specific ways your financial institution will and will NOT communicate with you. Triangle Credit Union in particular will never request online banking passwords from members, ask you to change your username or password, or request that you log into your online banking. Triangle Credit Union will never solicit confidential information via an unexpected call, text, email, social media message, or voicemail, and we will never ask you to enter this information through a generic web link. 

We hope that this tip will help remind you to keep your defenses up if you ever encounter one of these suspicious calls or texts so you can keep your money and personal information safe.  

If there are any other tips or topics you would like us to cover, let us know at [email protected]. Like and follow our Making Money Personal FB and IG page and look for our sponsor, Triangle Credit Union on social media to share your thoughts.  

Thanks for listening to today’s Money Tip Tuesday and be sure to check out our other tips and episodes on the Making Money Personal podcast.  

Have a great day!