Small Town News

Area hit with scam attempt

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The Coulee Dam Federal Credit Union was one of several financial, institutions targeted in a "vishing" scam Monday. The scam appears to have blanketed the Grand Coulee area in addition to Brewster and Bridgeport and surrounding areas.

The scam was purposely initiated on Columbus Day since most financial institutions were closed that day and their customers couldn't contact them.

Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering over the telephone to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public. It takes advantage of the fact that calls originated over the internet as opposed to traditional land lines area are hard to track down. Intended vicitms heard a computer-generated voice read a message.

The scam started in the late morning Monday and continued through the day. The Grand Coulee area was hit hard, with calls of randomly selected numbers with a cell phone prefix of "631."

When the victim answers the call an automated recording advises that their credit or debit card has had some unusual activity. The message instructs the consumer to call a certain number or press "1" to continue. When the victim calls the number they receive instructions to enter their card number, expiration date, CW code (three-digit number on back) as well as their Personal Identification Number on the keypad.

Once the consumer enters their credit or debit information the visher has the necessary information to make fraudulent use of the card or to access the account.

Credit Union officials advise:

1) Never respond to unsolicited e-mails or text messages, especially coming from people or companies you do not have a relationship with.

2) Financial institutions do not solicit non-public information from you. Typically they already have this information.

3) When you are accssing any accounts online, make it a habit to check for the small yellow lock in the bottom of your screen. If it's unlocked, you are not in a secure area of the website. The Credit Union uses the highest encryption possible for its online banking members.

If you feel you have been a victim of this kind of scam, call your financial institution immediately.

Douglas County Sheriff Harvey Gjesdal "reported Tuesday that people throughout the county had been hit with the scam.

"Citizens are urged not to return these calls or provide any personal



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© 2010 The Star Grand Coulee, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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