From the President's Desk: Protect Yourself from Fraud
Dear Cornerstone Financial Credit Union Member,
We greatly appreciate the opportunity to meet your financial needs. We understand you have many choices, and we are honored to serve you.
Over the past year, we’ve seen a large increase in fraud and the extremes that are being taken to present situations that seem real. I encourage you to read the information below carefully and arm yourself with ways to avoid being scammed. These recommendations will help protect your accounts.
Here is a must do list to protect yourself from fraud and scams.
- Never give out personal information to a caller or in a text message. This means your date of birth, Social Security number, username, password, or details on your account such as your account balance or descriptions of items that have been processed on your account. Cornerstone will not ask for this information if we call you. (However, if you call our Call Center, we will need information to identify you.)
- Do not answer unexpected calls that appear to be from Cornerstone Financial Credit Union. The scammers are “spoofing” our number and it looks like the call is from Cornerstone. Allow the call to go to voicemail. We will leave you a message regarding the reason for the call. Only call us back at 615-385-6866 during normal business hours. Do not call other numbers. Scammers like to call after normal business hours.
- No one is going to give you money. Scammers tell members that if you give them a small amount of money, they will reward you with a huge sum. There is no such thing as free money. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!
- Use digital banking to set alerts on your account. The alert will text you letting you know a transaction has occurred on your account, the amount, and the type of transaction. Do this today! If you need help setting alerts, go to your local branch.
- Protect your account information. If you have workers in your home, keep all account information in a safe place and out of sight.
- If a situation seems odd, it probably is a scam. Hang the phone up! Block persistent callers.
- Scammers are smart and play on your emotions. If the call is long and they keep asking for information, hang up.
I have received these types of call as well, so this is not unique, it’s happening every day. Be bold and hang the phone up then call us at 615-385-6866 or visit your local branch. Share this information with your friends and family. Be prepared!
Sincerely,
Donna Young, President
Unauthorized Transactions
Debit and Credit Card Withdrawals
Call Cardholder Services at 1-855-448-8197 (available 24/7) to report unauthorized transactions. You can also report unauthorized credit card transactions in digital banking.
Your card will be closed permanently when you report unauthorized activity, so we recommend that you first login to digital banking and disable your card with Card Controls, then contact the company to get information or resolution about the charge.
Free trial periods for subscription services are commonplace. If you notice an unauthorized transaction, first check if it is from a company that offered a free trial. It is possible that the service was not canceled within the trial period, so the regular subscription charge was assessed.
ACH and Check Withdrawals
A Written Statement of Unauthorized Debit (WSUD) must be completed and notarized at one of our branches before we return an ACH or check withdrawal. We can also place a stop payment on a series of checks if your checkbook was lost or stolen. If you are unable to visit a branch, please contact us for further assistance.
Unauthorized Account Access
Notify us immediately if you notice unauthorized activity through digital banking.
Never Share a Verification Code
No one can access your account online unless you share a verification code or allow a push authentication request. Recently, scammers have pretended to be the card fraud department in order to takeover accounts, and they ask for a verification code to allegedly verify your identity.
Disable Online Access
Change your password if you are unable to contact us immediately. Once we are notified, we will lock your account and research audit logs to determine what happened. We will also take necessary steps to stop or reverse any unauthorized transfers.
Change Your Account Number
It is necessary to change your account number when you are a victim of account takeover. We can still allow deposits and payments to post on the compromised account number while you update the information wherever needed.