Blog Post

Summary

As part of a new scam, fraudsters reach out to members impersonating a financial institution (often times spoofing the phone number so it looks like it is coming from the credit union). In this scheme, the fraudster will often tell the member that they need to ‘validate’ them by sending a One-Time Password (OTP) and asking the member to recite it back to the caller. In reality, the criminal is receiving the OTP so that they can authenticate themselves as the member. As many card issuer’s now leverage OTP for Digital Wallet verification, this tactic is being used to allow fraudsters to access mobile wallets for their own benefit. 

What is MembersAlliance doing?

Preventing fraud and protecting members from fraud scams is a priority for MembersAlliance Credit Union. As part of that effort to adapt and protect your members, we are updating the OTP messaging to remind members not to share their code with anyone. The OTP is sent to members when they are adding their credit card to their digital wallet for the required authentication.

What else can you do to stop this fraud?

• Be cautious whenever receiving an unexpected text or call from someone claiming to be with the credit union.
• Use transaction alerts such as Purchase Alerts or eAlerts. 
• Learn more about what information MembersAlliance Credit Union WILL and WILL NOT request from our members in our phone calls or emails.
• If someone calls asking for any information that seems suspicious, hang up and call 815-226-2260.