Scam Alert Dated February 15, 2005

CUNA website phished in message to members

Madison, Wis. (2/15/05)-- The Credit Union National Association's (CUNA) web site is the subject of an illegal phishing message e-mailed to credit union members to collect their username and password information, CUNA discovered today. CUNA's Center for Personal Finance is warning people who receive the e-mail not to click on the link to the fake web page and to instead delete the message. "

Do not click on the website link in a message that's telling you that the organization's information is slightly out of date or incomplete," says Jan Garkey, special materials editor for CUNA's Center for Personal Finance. "If such a message asks for information, don't give it to them, even if it looks like it's from an organization you do business with," Garkey warned. "

Lots of websites are being phished. All the consumer has to do is delete the message. Your credit union already has your personal information and will not contact you and ask for more," she said.

The fraudulent message uses graphics from CUNA's web site. It uses the America's Credit Unions logo, contains the word "consumer" on the right side of the page and addresses the credit union member. It also has CUNA's copyright.

It says that "during our regular accounts verification, it has come to our attention that your credit union account may be slightly out of date or incomplete. This irregularity can and must be fixed through the Credit Union National Association Confirmation process that takes 10 minutes to complete and involves logging in and confirming your identity over a secure connection" at the link it provides.

CUNA does not have such a link on its cuna.org website, and there is no confirmation process for accounts at CUNA, which is a national trade association for credit unions. CUNA does not have access to credit unions' member accounts.

According to Kevin Knope, CUNA's director of web services, the message has been traced to a domain that points to an internet service provider in Sweden.

It also warns that disregarding the notification means the member's account might be restricted, and the member won't be able to access the account online, pay the monthly bill online, review and download monthly statements or request a credit line increase or change of address.

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