Ypsilanti Area Federal Credit Union: Beware of phishing scam
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A phishing scam is circulating around Washtenaw County, almost exactly a year after similar e-mail or text alerts made the rounds.
The e-mails and text messages are directed at credit union customers in an attempt to to gain access to the bank accounts of Ann Arbor area residents.
The Ypsilanti Area Federal Credit Union, which also warned customers about a similar scam last year, has heard from about 25 customers since Monday who received the e-mail or text, said Gregory Gurka, president and CEO of the credit union.
Gurka said the messages are generic and warn customers their accounts are frozen or closed. He said he suspects many area residents have received the e-mails and texts, and other credit unions also may be hearing from their customers.
In one case, a customer said he provided information after calling the number on the e-mail, so his account number has been changed, Gurka said. Anyone who calls the number in the e-mail is asked to verify his or her Social Security numbers and debit or account information.
Shannon Queirolo, an Ann Arbor area resident, said she received text messages alerting her that her account is on hold and a limit had been set on her bank card. The texts refer to the "Community Credit Union," and there is a Community Driven Credit Union in Pittsfield Township, although Queirolo is not a customer.
Queirolo said the texts immediately raised red flags - one came from a "1234" number. She called the number listed in the message to see who would answer and was greeted by an automated message welcoming her to the "card activation center." She was directed to enter her card number, expiration date and PIN.
"This seemed more personal than the e-mails you usually get that are obviously scams, but it had triggers," Queirolo said. "I hope people hear about it so they don't fall for it."
Phishers use what appears to be legitimate requests for sensitive identity or banking information by masquerading as representatives of companies to gain access to bank accounts and drain them of cash.
Gurka said the credit union would never send requests for such sensitive information. But the credit union did send an online survey this week soliciting feedback on customer service. Gurka fears customers may be leery of that e-mail, even though it does not ask for any sensitive information.
No information was available from local police agencies on how many people have reported or fallen victim to the scam.
The Anti-Phishing Working Group offers some advice on what to do if you've been scammed and how to report it.
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This is Scary because my grandmother got a phising scam on her phone this afternoon I caught her getting ready to call stoped her and told her to go see the bank. guess I will be calling WCSD tip line
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Posted Nov 17 2009
Received one of these scams today in a text message; it provided a phone number to call in Austin, TX. Instead, I called my Credit Union and the rep there said to 1). ignore the message and 2). check my account daily to see whether there is any unusual activity.
You can also type phone numbers into an internet search engine to check them out - there was one other reported pfishing scam using the number I received today in the text message.
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Posted Nov 17 2009
I received this text this morning!I have never been to the Ypsi Credit Union and have no idea how they got my number. When I called th phone number it said it was disconnected
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Posted Nov 17 2009
Is there an email address to forward phishing scam emails to? I got one purporting to be from the YAFCU today
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Posted Nov 17 2009
I got the message from "1234" telling me to call 512-501-4761.
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Posted Nov 17 2009
@vanessa: Here's some info from the Anti-Phishing Working Group: We maintain a repository of phishing scam emails and websites to help people identify and avoid being scammed in the future. If you have received a phishing email and would like to submit it to Anti-Phishing Working Group, please send it to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. We will review the message and any websites to which it links, and post it to the Phishing Archive on this site.
AnnArbor.com Staff
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Posted Nov 17 2009
I received three different text messages from phisherman last week saying that my debit account has been limited. I did not respond to these crooks, but you still feel violated nevertheless. It is a shame!
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Posted Nov 17 2009
Received two of these from Community Driven Credit Union - call them as my account has been frozen. I dont have an account there; I do use their ATM. Quite hokey.
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Posted Nov 17 2009
Strange... 4lines (Family plan), 2 of the people are located out of state (but all have 734 area codes)- we ALL received multiple of these text messages today. From my knowledge NONE of us are credit union members, PERIOD (ypsi area or otherwise)
I see there's a place to forward e-mail to, but can we send these texts to some agency also?
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Posted Nov 18 2009
here's another site with a bunch of people writing about this:
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/5125014761
from the comments there it looks like it's targeted to this area (commenters leave names like "south lyon", "chelsea", "university of michigan").
AnnArbor.com Staff
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Posted Nov 18 2009
In addition to the antiphishing site (reportphishing@antiphishing.org), you can also report to spam@uce.gov (the Federal Trade Commission)and phishing-report@us-cert.gov (the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team). When reporting always forward the hoax email with full headers to those addresses.
Another effective tactic is to look at the "return address". This e-garbage is internet fraud which is a violation of the ISP terms of service. Again, forward an unedited copy with full headers to the provider. Some common addresses: AT&T/SBC = abuse@att.net, Qwest = abuse@qwest.net, Verizon = security@verizon.net. If your ISP is Verizon, you may use spamdetector.notcaught@verizon.net.
If the return address is a Yahoo address (not just US), use phishing@cc.yahoo-inc.com. Yahoo aggressively shuts down these sites worldwide.
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Posted Nov 18 2009
I received a text message from a "credit union" a few days ago and immediately knew it was a scam because I don't have a credit union account.
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Posted Nov 18 2009
I also got this text saying my Community Driven Credit Union account was involved. I don't have an account there. I am a member of the Ypsilanti Federal Cruedit Union and have been for 37 years. I knew this was an error d reported it immediately. What good does it do to report this? Nothing seems to be done about it. The perpetrators simply change phone numbers and continue doing what they do. All we can do is educate the public that your bank would not contact you this way and hope you reach enough people.
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Posted Nov 18 2009
I've received this same text message from "1234" about once a week for the past month or so.
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Posted Nov 23 2009
I'm getting the same phishing texts. Looks like the 1-800 number was disconnected finally. They are now using the number 660-476-6630.
Sprint users can text "block 1234" (no quotes) to 9999. It will block any texts claiming to be from "1234", which is what I'm getting. Confirm the sender is blocked by texting "list" (no quotes) to 9999.
You can also manage your blacklist and whitelist on sprints web site. Log in, then click Block Text Messages on the lower right corner.
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Posted Dec 6 2009