Phishing is the attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details, often for malicious reasons, by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
A scammer contacts you pretending to be from a legitimate business such a bank or credit union. You may be contacted by email, social media, phone call, or text message.
The scammer asks you to provide or confirm your personal details. For example, the scammer may say that we are verifying customer records due to a technical error that wiped out customer data.
Alternatively, the scammer may alert you to ‘unauthorised or suspicious activity on your account’. You might be told that a large purchase has been made in a foreign country and asked if you authorised the payment. If you reply that you didn’t, the scammer will ask you to confirm your credit union or bank details so ‘we’ can investigate.
Phishing messages are designed to look genuine, and often copy the format used by the organisation the scammer is pretending to represent, including their branding and logo. They will take you to a fake website that looks like the real deal, but has a slightly different address. For example, our legitimate site is ‘www.claremorriscu.ie’, the scammer may use an address like ‘www.claremoriscredittunion.com’.
Some of these emails may include a link which unfortunately will have malware attached to it.
We will never send out an email or text message asking you to verify your account details by clicking a link.
If you ever receive an email from us which you feel is suspicious, please contact one of our offices as soon as possible.
Cyber-crime is an ongoing threat and here at St Colman’s Credit Union, we want to keep our members safe.