Please remember that Delta Community will never call, text, or email you to ask for your checking, savings or investment account, ATM, debit or credit card password, or your telephone access (IVR) PIN.
Recently Delta Community has learned of members receiving fraudulent phone calls from individuals claiming to be from the Credit Union. When this happens, the phone number the scammers are calling from is “spoofed,” meaning it might appear to be a legitimate Delta Community contact number but is fake. The caller tells the member that there has been a specific, fraudulent charge on the member's account and asks the member to confirm his or her identity.
These calling crooks are prepared, careful, and cunning; you may not be able to tell if the phone call coming to you is spoofed and not from the Credit Union. Be on your guard and extremely careful about responding to any request for personal information from a caller that cannot be verified. Following are tips from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on protecting yourself from fraudulent callers.
- Don't answer calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately.
- If you answer the phone and the caller—or an automated recording—asks you to push a phone button to stop getting the calls, then just hang up.
- Do not answer texts from unknown numbers. Do not click any links in the text and delete the text.
- Do not download any phone (or tablet) apps or computer software of any kind offered by a caller or texter regardless of the reason given why it is necessary—do not do it.
- Do not pay over the phone to a caller. Delta Community Credit Union will never ask you to provide any sort of payment or payment information, including account details, or request that you participate in a bogus “test” to prove your account payments are working.
- Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with "Yes" or "No."
- Never give out personal information such as one-time-passcodes, account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden names, passwords, account numbers, PIN numbers, home addresses, email addresses or other identifying information to unexpected callers unless you can verify their identity.
- If you get a call from someone who says they represent Delta Community or a government agency, hang up and call the Credit Union or the government agency's website to verify the authenticity of the request.
- You will usually get a written statement in the mail before you get a phone call from a legitimate company or the government, particularly if the caller is asking for a payment.
- Use extreme caution if you are being pressured for information immediately—nothing is so urgent that it can't wait at least one day.
- If you have a voicemail account with your home or cellular phone service, and the system allows it, set a password for it. Some voicemail services automatically allow access if you call in from your own phone number. A scammer could spoof your phone number and then access your voicemail if the account is not protected by a password.
- Talk to your phone service company about call blocking tools and options. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows phone companies to block automated robocalls by default. More information about robocall and text blocking is available at the FCC’s website.
- Remember to check your voicemail regularly to make sure you aren't missing legitimate calls and to clear out any spam calls.
If someone tries to get personal financial or other information from you, hang up immediately and contact our Member Care Center via our toll-free number at 800-544-3328.
Again, if a caller sounds the least bit suspicious and you're ever in doubt, hang up and call our Member Care Center to verify the request. For more information, visit the Federal Communications Commission's site on Caller ID Spoofing. If you've received a call from a scammer, with or without fake caller ID information, report it to the FTC and the FCC. If you think someone may now have some of your sensitive, personal information, go to IdentityTheft.gov to report identity theft and find out what to do next to protect yourself.
