Fraud alert: Digital Banking scam calls and texts

It’s important to take precautions to keep your personal information safe. Digital Banking fraud scams initiated by a call or text are widespread and have been making the news as social engineering tactics continue to evolve. Zelle person-to-person (P2P) fraud scams first surfaced in 2019 with fraudsters posing as financial institutions and making calls or sending texts to members to warn them of suspicious transactions on their accounts. When fraudsters call members, they “spoof” the financial institution’s phone number and claim to be from the fraud department. Usually, fraudsters tell members they are calling to discuss suspicious transactions but they must first verify the member’s identity in order to continue. They proceed to ask for the member’s Digital Banking username and then inform the member that they will receive a security code that they must provide over the phone. Unfortunately, the fraudster is actually initiating a password change on the member’s Digital Banking account, which triggers a security code to be sent to the member. Once the member provides the security code to the fraudster, their account has been taken over and the fraudster has access to send money through Zelle or other online payment methods. 
 
Here to help
If you have any concerns about calls from Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, ask for the employee’s full name and request to call them back. You can contact an employee by name by calling 301.779.8500 and choosing the dial-by-name option. Remember, we will never call you to request personal information such as your Digital Banking username, social security number, personal identification number (PIN) or security code.