Fraud Alert: Spoofing/Phishing scam continues

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03.28.2023 Written by Fox Communities

Follow these tips to always stay vigilant against fraud and scams

Scammers don’t take vacation and they don’t have any downtime. They are always on the lookout for a new victim, and we’re here to help make sure that isn’t you. With that in mind, we want to inform our membership that we continue to see scammers spoofing Fox by phishing and convincing our members into giving them their credit card number.

HOW THE SCAM WORKS

  • Members receive a phone call from someone appearing to be from our Fox Fraud Department, 920-993-9000. They convince the member to provide their complete credit card number by saying there has been fraudulent charges on the members credit card.
    • We will never call our members for their Fox credit card number as we already have it. If any members receive this call, please hang up and call us and let us know.
  • If the scammer receives the member’s credit card number, they will use it to conduct transactions even while the member is still on the phone with the scammer.
  • If the scammer conducts transactions with the member’s card number, the member may receive a legitimate text message from Fox requesting the member confirm they have made this transaction by providing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
    • We send these fraud alerts when irregular activity happens, such as a purchase out of the area where the member does not normally have transactions, which is what the scammer could be trying to do.
  • The scammer knows that this text will be sent, and they pressure the member to reply ‘yes,’ that the transaction was legitimate, even though the member questions the process.
    • Members should never agree to a purchase they did not make as scammers rely on pressure and make people feel bad by saying no.
  • The scammer will try to convince the member that it is due to a software program, and the answer must be ‘yes’ in order to proceed and keep the members card working. The credit union would never ask members to do anything that wasn’t legitimate.
  • If the member replies ‘yes,’ they are confirming they made the transaction, which they did not make. By doing this, it allows subsequent transactions to be processed until the fraud is detected and once detected the card would need to be shut down, but this may have caused thousands of dollars in losses.

If you run into anything suspicious, have any questions, or would like advice on how to keep your finances and identity safe, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our friendly Fox team or come see us at any Fox location. We’re here to help!