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Consumer Alert!!

Heartland Security Breach

 

Heartland Payment Systems a credit card processor located in Princeton, New Jersey, experienced a data breach in which information was stolen for hundreds of thousands cardholders.  Heartland processes credit and debit card transactions for over 175,000 merchants across the country.  

 

Directions Credit Union has no relationship with Heartland Payment Systems. However, if a Directions member used their credit or debit card at a merchant or restaurant that used Heartland Payments Systems for their card processing at the time of the security breach, it is possible that their information may have been stolen.  

 

What is Directions Credit Union doing to Protect its Cardholders from this Breach?

 

First and foremost, you are not responsible for fraudulent credit card and debit card transactions that are reported within a timely manner.  So, it is important that you review your monthly statements and notify us immediately if you see invalid transactions.    

 

However, our goal at Directions Credit Union is to stop fraudulent activity before it happens.  Directions Credit Union closely monitors our cardholders transactions, if a transaction is attempted that appears to be suspicious or unusual, you may receive a phone call asking you to verify the purchase. If fraud is confirmed, the card will be shut down immediately, and a new card will be issued.

 

In addition, Visa and Mastercard provides the credit union with notification of potential fraudulent activities when they occur.  We are able to use the information they provide to identify cardholders (based on location, shopping patterns etc), who may be at risk.  Members will be notified, the card will be closed, and the member will be issued a new card.  Directions Credit Union continues to closely monitor the Heartland Breach incident, if new “theft cells” are identified, immediate action will be taken.

 

Phishing Internet/E-mail Scam

Internet scammers casting about for people’s financial information have a new way to lure unsuspecting victims: They go "phishing". Phishing is a high-tech scam that uses spam to deceive consumers into disclosing their credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security numbers, passwords and other sensitive information. Directions CU will never contact you for this sensitive information. In a typical case, you’ll receive an email that appears to come from a reputable company that you recognize and do business with - or even from a government or regulatory agency. The e-mail will probably warn you of a serious problem that requires your immediate attention. The e-mail will then encourage you to click on a button to go to the institution’s web site to update your account information. In a phishing scam you could be redirected to a phony web site for the purpose of harvesting your financial information. By providing the requested information,  you may find yourself the victim of identity theft.

If you are suspicious of any email asking for personal information or if you have provided information but felt later it was not legitimate, contact your financial institution immediately to alert them. You can also contact to report it to the government. For more information on "phishing", click the link below.

DIRECTIONS CREDIT UNION WILL NEVER ASK FOR SENSITIVE INFORMATION IN THIS FASHION via PHONE CALL, E-MAIL, OR PHONE TEXT MESSAGING.


If you feel you have compromised your account or your identity in any way by responding to a phone call, email, or text message that you think may be fraudulent, please contact us at 419-841-9838.

NCUA (National Credit Union Administration) Announcement

Recently, there have been multiple e-mail fraud attempts, known as "phishing", initiated via e-mail sent to both the general public and to some credit union members that appeared to be from NCUA. This false e-mail asked for the recipient to click on a link to verify their credit union account registration. If the recipient proceeded to do so, the link directed them to a false Web site and asked for their credit union account number and PIN, along with other personal information.

NCUA does not ask credit unions or its members for such personal information. Anyone who receives an e-mail that purports to be from NCUA and asks for account information should consider it to be a fraudulent attempt to obtain their personal account data for an illegal purpose and should not follow the instructions in the e-mail.

If you feel that you have received a fraudulent phishing e-mail purportedly from NCUA, please forward the entire e-mail message to

Identity Theft

Identity theft is a serious crime. This occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. Protect yourself! For further information and helpful tips, click the link below.

Federal Trade Commission - Spam, Fraudulent E-mails

Federal Trade Commission - Tips on How to Help Protect Yourself from Identity Theft