possible fraud alerts

Georgia's Credit Freeze Law takes effect August 1, 2008

On May 13, 2008, Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law a credit freeze bill that will provide Georgia consumers with the ability to place a freeze on their credit file for only $3 per credit-reporting agency, a total of $9 to report to all three major credit-reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. The freeze will be free for senior citizens 65 and older and for victims of identity theft. Each temporary lift, commonly called a “thaw”, to allow access to the consumer’s credit file would also cost $3 and access would be available electronically within 15 minutes of request submission, keeping on-the-spot credit an option for shoppers. The legislation will become effective August 1, 2008.

With the signing of this bill, Georgians have gained a new weapon in the fight against identity theft. When a freeze is in place, credit reporting agencies may not release the consumer’s credit file unless the consumer first removes the freeze by providing their password.* Most lenders and creditors rely on access to a consumer’s credit file to determine their credit worthiness. By denying such access, a credit freeze makes it very difficult for a would be identity thief to open an account in a victim’s name.

To place a credit freeze on your file, consumers must contact the credit reporting agencies at the addresses below:

Experian Security Freeze
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013
www.experian.com/freeze

Equifax Security Freeze
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348

TransUnion Security Freeze
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

Requests should include the following identifying information:

• Full Name (and former name if applicable)
• Current Address and former address if it changed in the last 5 years
• Social Security Number
• Date of Birth
• Photocopy of a Driver’s License, State ID card, or other Government-Issued Identification
• Proof of current residence, such as a copy of a phone or utility bill
• If you are a victim of identity theft, include a copy of either the police report; investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft
• If you are not a victim of identity theft, include payment by check, money order or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover cards only.) Do not send cash in the mail.

*The law does give some companies access to reports despite a freeze such as insurance companies, existing creditors, and law enforcement agencies.

Suspicious Text Messaging Scam Targets Members and Nonmembers of Credit Union’s in Illinois, Michigan, & Ohio

A text messaging scam is currently targeting people in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. NuMark Credit Union in Chicago, IL received thousands of calls from members and nonmembers Monday, June 16, 2008 reporting they had received a suspicious text message. The phone number on the text message went to an audio system asking the members and nonmembers to put in their debit or credit card number and their pin number. Many did as the audio system instructed and in turn the members and the Credit Union are suffering numerous fraud cases from this. The text message sent to NuMark Credit Union members appeared like this:

From Service@numarkcu.org
Subject: Alert

Your NuMark CU account is closed due to unusual activity. To reactivate call us at 847-246-7640.

Please be mindful that Credit Union of Georgia will never send our members or nonmembers a text message of this nature. Our text messaging service, eAlerts, is used to strictly notify you of different notifications that you have set up on your Credit Union of Georgia account. You will never receive a text message notifying you that your account has been closed. If you feel you have received a suspicious text message from Credit Union of Georgia, please contact our MAPS department at 678-486-1111.

CUNA Mutual has alerted local credit unions of recent attempts to obtain credit union members information through phishing. Phishing is the act of sending an email to a user falsely claiming to be a legitimate enterprise in attempts to obtain personal information to be used for identity theft.

Phishing emails can have many variations. The most recent scams are as follows:

"CUNA Alert: Irregular Check Card Activity"

"We detected irregular activity on check card on Oct. 25/2007. For your protection, you must reactivate your card. Call us immediately at 1.866.840.2863. We will review the activity on your account with you and upon verification, we will remove any restrictions placed on your account.

Or

“You have (1) new message from National Credit Union Association”

“CUNA is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help you with secure service…November 1, 2006: We have reason to believe that you account was accessed by a third party.”

A link is then provided to access a checklist along with a case ID. This link is to a fake website mimicking CUNA Mutual.

If you encounter this email, please do not follow the instructions. Take action by immediately deleting the email. If you have any questions, please contact our MAPS (Mail and Phone Service) department at 678-486-1111.