Internet thieves are always finding inventive ways to steal your money and your identity electronically. The goal of these crooks is usually the same. They want you to provide your personal information to them, such as your credit card number, Social Security number, and credit union or bank account numbers. It’s very important that you protect your personal information online.

Dangerous New Phishing Scam
Crooks are now using highly sophisticated methods to trick you into giving them your personal information. Their new dangerous scam replaces the “Address” bar at the top of your web browser with a working fake web site. This fake site will look very much like the original site, but it's completely fraudulent. The fake site might ask you for your Social Security number, pin codes, credit union or bank account numbers or any other personal information.

How it Works
You would receive a forged e-mail that pretends to be from the Credit Union, another financial institution, or even a government agency. The e-mail claims that you must verify your e-mail address, and includes a link for you to do so. When you click on the link, a new browser window opens, and you're taken to a web page to verify your e-mail address or other personal information.

Even though it looks like you are on the institution's web site, you're actually on a fake site that the phisher created. The fraudulent site will instantly detect your browser, and will run custom code that removes the real address bar and replaces it with a fake address bar at the top of the browser window. The page looks secure because the “Address” field shows https:// (meaning H ypertext T ransfer P rotocol S ecure , which is the secure version of HTTP), but it is not.

How To Tell If The Site Is Secure
It's very important that you always surf the web with caution. When you are on a page that claims to be secure, always look for the yellow SSL padlock ( ) in the lower corner of your browser.

Will Congressional FCU Ask Me For Personal Information Via E-mail?
No. Congressional FCU will never ask for your account number, credit card number, Social Security number, or any sort of personal information in an e-mail. If you responded to such an email or provided this information at a suspicious web site, contact us immediately.

What Is Being Done to Help You With Online Scams?

Can-Spam Act
If you have e-mail, you’ve experienced spam. These are unsolicited e-mails that come directly to your inbox. E-mail is an easy tool for scam artists to use, however, legislation has made spamming just a little more difficult. 

On December 16, 2003, President Bush signed into law the CAN-SPAM Act. The new law is a pro-consumer measure that allows consumers to choose to stop further unsolicited spam from a sender. Click here to read the Can-Spam Act.

National Cyber Alert System
The National Cyber Alert System is America's first national cyber security system for identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing possible threats towards your computer. 

The system offers free cyber alerts and computer advice from the Homeland Security Department. When you sign up with the system, you will receive e-mails about major virus outbreaks and other Internet attacks as they occur, along with detailed instructions to help computer users protect themselves. 

Read more about the National Cyber Alert System.