Remember: SMFCU and its affiliates will never ask for your personal information via an e-mail. 

Online Scams/Identity Theft

SMFCU's policies prohibit third parties from remotely accessing member accounts. These policies are designed to help protect our members' privacy and to help keep our members' financial and other account information secure. 

Identity theft, fraud, and other Internet scams are on the rise. For this reason, it is important to be cautious online! Remember: never give your user ID or password information to anyone else. Except to login to your account online, SMFCU will never ask for your user ID or password. To help us in our effort to protect your privacy, please let us know if you are ever asked to provide this information - even if the request appears to come from us.

Credit Card Scam Alert!

    There's been a rise in credit card fraud recently. One scheme involves a bogus e-mail supposedly from "Card Services for Credit Unions" (CSCU). This e-mail asks members to take a brief survey and directs you to a legitimate-looking site that asks for personal account information as well as plastic card information. It's all a scam designed to convince you to hand over your private financial information.
    In another successful scheme, the scammers collect card numbers and names from a place of business (a waiter or a store clerk). Days later, the cardholder gets an official-sounding telephone call, warning about suspicious activity on your credit card account. The caller repeats your name and card number, and asks you to verify your identity by reading the three-digit security number on the back of your card back to them. Once they have that number, they can use your card to easily conduct illegal card transactions over the phone and the internet. (Note: these callers may even threaten to freeze your credit card account if you do not give them the information they require. Regardless, it's in your best interest to play it safe and hang up, then call your Credit Union for help sorting out whether this is a real issue or a scam.)

What to Do Next

If you suspect your SMFCU Visa Credit Card or a SMFCU Debit Card has been compromised, immediately call 952-445-0888 and report it to one of the MSRs. They will need the primary cardholder's name to block the card from further use and reissue a new card to you. South Metro apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. Below are some helpful resources for reporting and avoiding identity theft. 

Preventing Identity Theft

Identity theft is a crime in which the imposter obtains key pieces of information such as social security and driver's license numbers to obtain credit, merchandise and services in the name of the victim. This leaves the victim with a ruined credit history and the time-consuming and complicated task of regaining financial health.

The Federal Trade Commission offers the following tips for protecting yourself from identity theft:

• Carefully destroy papers you don't need.
  Take special pains to shred papers with sensitive or identifying information.
   
• Guard your Social Security number.
  Don't carry your card with you and resist giving it out unless necessary. Don't put your social security number on your checks. Keep all personal records in a secure location, such as a safe or vault.
   
• Block your name from marketing lists.
  Call 1-888-5OPT-OUT. This will cut down on the number of pre-approved credit card offers you receive.
   
• Be suspicious of telephone solicitors.
  Never give out information unless you have initiated the call. Don't give your social security number to a sales clerk.
   
• Watch what happens to your credit card when you give it to a clerk.
  Instances of double skimming are on the rise. Double skimming occurs when the clerk not only charges you for your purchase, but also runs your card through a computer scanner. Later this information is downloaded on a counterfeit card and used by imposters.
   
• Demand that the businesses you frequent take good care of your information.
  Find out how they protect you from identity theft.
   
• Call the post office immediately if you are not receiving your mail.
   
• Be aware of others whenever entering PIN number.
   
• Limit the number of cards and info you carry in your wallet.
   
• Report lost or stolen cards immediately.
   
• Cancel all inactive credit accounts.
   
• Use passwords on all credit cards, bank accounts, and phone cards.
   
• Match your bills against charges to your credit account each month.

On another note, remember South Metro does not sell or release any information to any third parties for marketing purposes. Check out our privacy notice for more further details.

"Phishing" for Your Identity

There's a new type of internet piracy called "Phishing." It's pronounced "fishing," and that's exactly what these thieves are doing; "fishing" for your personal financial information. 

What they want are account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers and other confidential information that they can use to loot your checking account or run up bills on your credit cards.

In the worst case, you could find yourself a victim of identity theft. With the sensitive information obtained from a successful phishing scam, these thieves can take out loans or obtain credit cards and even drivers' licenses in your name. They can do damage to your financial history and personal reputation that can take years to unravel. But if you understand how phishing works and how to protect yourself, you can help stop this crime.

In a typical case, you'll receive an e-mail that appears to come from a reputable company that you recognize and do business with, such as your financial institution. In some cases they appear to come from a government agency. The e-mail will probably warn you of a serious problem that requires "Immediate Attention," and will direct you to contact them. They encourage you to click a button and enter their web site.

In a phishing scam the web site looks like the real thing: in those cases a pop- up window will quickly appear for the purpose of "reeling in" your financial information. You will be asked to update your account information for verification purposes: your Social Security number, your account number, your password or verification information such as your mother's maiden name, etc... 

If you provide the requested information, you may become a victim of identity theft.

You can fight identity theft; here's how. 

• NEVER provide personal financial information, including your Social Security number, account numbers or passwords, over the phone or the internet if you do not initiate the contact.
   
• NEVER click on the link provided in an e-mail you believe to be fraudulent. It may contain a virus that can contaminate your computer.
   
• DON'T be intimidated by an e-mail or caller who suggests dire consequences if you do not immediately provide or verify financial information.
   
• IF you believe the contact is legitimate, go to the company's Web site by typing in the site address directly or by using a page you have previously bookmarked, never use the link provided.

If you fall victim to an attack, act immediately to protect yourself. Alert your financial institution. Place fraud alerts on your credit cards. Monitor your credit files and account statements closely.

REPORT suspicious e-mails or calls to the Federal Trade Commission or call 1-877-IDTHEFT.

Identity Theft Resources
Whether you're a victim of ID theft or you're just trying to protect your good name, you can find helpful resources at the following Web sites:

• Call for Action: www.callforaction.org
• Federal Trade Commission: www.consumer.gov/idtheft
• Social Security Administration: www.ssa.gov
• U.S. Postal Inspection Service: www.usps.gov/postalinspectors
• ID Theft 911: www.identitytheft911.org

Are Hackers Using your PC?
- Courtesy of USA Today

Betty Carty figured she ought to be in the digital fast lane. Last Christmas, Carty purchased a Dell desktop computer, and then signed up for a Comcast high-speed Internet connection. But her new Windows XP machine crashed frequently and would only plod across the Internet. Dell was no help. The PC maker insisted correctly that Carty's hardware worked fine.

But in June, Comcast curtailed Carty's outbound e-mail privileges after pinpointing her PC as a major source of e-mail spam. An intruder had turned Carty's PC into a "zombie," spreading as many as 70,000 pieces of e-mail spam a day. 

Since early 2003, infectious programs have begun to saturate the Internet, causing the number of PCs hijacked by hackers and turned into so called zombies to soar into the millions mostly in homes, at small businesses and on college campuses.

Personal computers have never been more powerful and dangerous. Just as millions of Americans are buying new PCs and signing up for ultra-fast Internet connections, cyber crooks are stepping up schemes to take control of their machines and most consumers don't have a clue. Over the past eight months, USA TODAY interviewed more than 100 tech-industry executives, consultants, analysts, regulators and security experts who say top-tier code writers now create malicious programs mainly to amass networks to zombie PCs. They then sell access to zombie networks to spammers, blackmailers and identity thieves who orchestrate fraudulent for-profit schemes.

In July, spam made up 94.5% of e-mail traffic, nearly double from a year ago. Zombie networks are perfectly suited to flood targeted Web sites with data requests, in so called distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks. Cyber crooks use the threat of a DD0S attack to extort protection money from businesses keen to keep their Web sites running. Until recently, little has been done to stop such attacks. The Justice Department's Operation Web Snare netted 160 arrests in August that could lead to more busts. 

Zombie victim Carty took matters into her own hands: She did research on how to clean up and protect her PC and diligently updates programs that scan her computer for various types of malicious code. Her PC now runs clean. E-commerce is bigger than ever, and most casual computer users overlook safety practices. The vast majority don't use firewall software to block intruders, patch vulnerabilities or keep anti-virus subscriptions current. 

Heather Hall can trace the start of her online banking nightmare to the day she received what she thought was a legitimate e-mail request from Bank of America asking her to click a link to bank Web page. Hall typed in her login, password and account number. Hall noticed an unauthorized withdrawal on her statement for $6.50. The withdrawals increased in frequency and amounts, up to as much as $108. Hall was the victim of a "low and slow" phishing scam, in which cybercriminls purposely steal small amounts of cash sometimes as little as 20 cents at a time to avoid detection. Sneaky cyber crooks are finding it profitable to "be patient and nick an account for along time."

A network of zombie PCs emails the original request to tens of thousands of potential dupes. A separate zombie, usually a more powerful PC, often sitting in a remote country, perhaps in an obscure nook at a university, serves up the counterfeit Web page. Another zombie, in yet another country, perhaps in the basement of a small shop, stores the stolen account details and conducts the theft.

In what feds call one of the biggest busts, a Romanian man was arrested last year and convicted for using an elaborate network of bogus Web pages and escrow accounts to fleece Americans out of $500,000. 

E-mail viruses rely on tricking the victim into opening an infectious attachment. Another widely used tool is harder to fight: direct planting of contagions, known as "come-and get-it" viruses, on popular Web sites. Such contagions commonly lurk on peer-to peer sites, where music and movies are exchanged. They trick the computer user into giving up personal information, and they can activate other programs unseen by the PC owner. 

The scariest type of attack is the one most consumers aren't aware of. Scores of programs, called worms and bots, scour the Internet for Windows PCs with security holes. Microsoft issues software patches, or fixes, each month for the most troublesome. But most home users, and many businesses, don't keep up to date on patches. "Hackers can do almost anything with a compromised PC, and there isn't much we can do about it," says Keith Loudeau, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division. 

Dumb Money Moves People Make

Some people don't need crafty ID thieves to wreck their finances. They're all too happy to do it themselves.

Some people just aren't that bright.
From tech-savvy syndicates stealing card numbers using fake ATM faces to a flawless faux-campaign raising money for the latest disaster; identity thieves are getting smarter.

Yet some people are so careless with their personal information they are practically begging to have their identity stolen. And others don't even need to be impersonated to face financial ruin, they simply implode from within.

Don't carry around sensitive stuff
Take the person who wrote down all of the family's financial information in a day planner. As sometimes happens, the day planner was stolen. The thieves made off with names, phone numbers, credit card numbers, four bank account numbers, ATM numbers with pins, social security numbers and the maiden names of both spouses' mothers.

"all the information someone would need to steal your identity," said Jay Foley, co-director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, who helped the family resolve the issue. "Sometimes, being organized is a little too organized."

Foley said $53,000 was racked up on the credit cards in the first weekend. After those cards were maxed out the thieves took out three more. Then they took out loans for a boat and a car.

The issue was eventually resolved and their names were cleared, but it took 11 months and the resulting stress led to a divorce.

Use caution with file sharing programs.
Then there are these people who think they're putting one over on the music industry by using file sharing software to download music. What they don't know is that, sometimes, they're sharing much more that MP3 files.

According to the technology blog Trenchier, it took "all of 10 minutes" to scan people's hard drives and find tax returns, bank statements, court documents, alimony papers and copies of passports using file sharing software. The people evidently didn't specify which files to share and which to keep private when they downloaded the file sharing software.

Clean your computer.
Another problem with computers is what to do with the machine when you get a new one. One woman simply put her old computer on the curb, hard drive intact and several years of business records and personal tax forms on the Quicken program, which wasn't password protected. "Lo and behold she was victimized repeatedly," said Kevin Barrows, a former FBI agent who now works for Renaissance Associates, a computer forensic firm. Barrows says when you get rid of a computer you should not only clean your hard drive, but physically destroy it. "Smash it," he said. "Do whatever you have to do to make sure someone doesn't use it."

Don't share too much information on checks.
Mari Frank, an attorney and author of several books on identity theft, says most cases don't involve negligence on the part of the victim but rather result from breaches in security at a third party, such as a bank or employer who has your information.

Nonetheless, she still comes across instances that cause her jaw to drop. Such as the older man who sent her a check for a book on preventing ID theft. On the check for the book he had written his Social Security number.

"He had his identity stolen and he had no idea how this could have possibly happened," she said. "We immediately called him and said 'Look'..."

Watch for scammers.
Or another man who answered the phone in the middle of the night. According to Frank the caller said they were from the government and needed his Social Security number and date of birth for jury duty. The man dutifully supplied the requested information and went back to sleep. "A few months later he was the victim of identity theft and he wanted to know if that had anything to do with it," she said.

Protect your pin.
Tome Kelly, a spokesman for Chase, said the bank will get a call from customers who lost an ATM card and now see that money has been taken from their account.

And how is it possible without the PIN number? It was written right on the card.

Watch what you spend.
Some people don't even need their identity stolen to make a mess of their financial lives. One Chicago private banker got herself "325,000 in debt buying clothes so she could wear the same fashions as her well-heeled clients, according to David Leibowitz, a Chicago-area bankruptcy lawyer.

Leibowitz stressed that the vast majority of bankruptcies come from unexpected misfortunes, such as illness. But in another case, Leibowitz said a woman went bankrupt under the weight of $50,000 in medical bills -- for her cat.

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