Prevent Yourself from Becoming a Victim of Phishing Scams with These Tips

There's no shortage to the kind of ways people try to steal information from you online. Commonly, scams come in the form of strange emails asking for your social security number, birth date or account information. Here are a few helpful tips, tricks and suggestions for how to stay ahead of the scammers.

The Email Scam

If you don't recognize the email address of the sender, never click on any internal attachment or link in an email. If you're receiving an email from a company you haven't purchased from in a while, hover your mouse over the sender's email. If there is any random combination of letters or numbers or a misspelled word, it is fake. If you're still not sure, perform a Google search for the email address. If anything looks fishy, mark the email address as "phishing" in your email account.

VoIP Phishing

Also known as Vishing, this is where someone uses a Voice over IP phone service to try and scam you. Chances are, you screen the numbers calling you on your phone (if you don't, you probably should). With VoIP phone numbers, account holders can create fake numbers for any area code. So, for example, if you have a 313 area code, the scammer can create a fake 313 number so it looks like it's a local call.

If someone calls, you answer, and they ask for personal information, hang up and don't provide it. This includes anything from your Social Security number to driver's license number or credit card numbers. The credit union will never call you to ask you for that information. You can also perform an internet search for the number to see whether it has been reported as a scam number or not.

Anti-virus Software

This is an added line of defense you need. You may from time to time accidentally click on something you shouldn't have. Maybe you fell for the old "Your Adobe Reader Needs Updating" pop-up. Some of these pop-ups are easy to fall for. With anti-virus and pop-up blocker software, you'll not only prevent many of these pop-ups from appearing, but you'll block the content from downloading to your system.

Protect Yourself

These are just a few of the ways you can avoid phishing scams. When it comes to the Internet, it is critical to err on the side of caution. From not clicking on any random pop-up to voiding emails sent from accounts you don't recognize, the combination of some anti-malware software and common sense will take you a long way in protecting yourself, your computer and your data from phishing scams.

Clark County Credit Union’s online banking system is reliable and secure. We continually monitor and update our systems and processes to keep your personal information protected at all times. To learn about how you can become a CCCU member, contact us today at 702-228-2228.