February 28, 2020 by lpalma
There have been several reports of fraudulent calls in our area. We have heard reports of fraudulent calls from our 800.779.5555 number claiming to be Blackhawk Community Credit Union. Please remember the following:
- Blackhawk Community Credit Union will NEVER call you and request your card or account information. Unfortunately, there are fraudsters that will try to impersonate financial institutions in order to steal information from you. They can be very clever and even “spoof” phone numbers that make it appear it’s coming from a legitimate number. Learn more from the Federal Communications Commission here.
- Guard your personal information – Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Do NOT provide your credit card or account information or your social security number. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information the business already has.
- The Social Security Administration, IRS, and other government agencies will NOT contact you via telephone.
- Know who you’re dealing with – In any transaction that you conduct, check out the business with the Better Business Bureau to see if the business is credible.
- Be cautious about unsolicited phone calls and emails – They can be fraudulent. If a phone call seems suspicious, end the call and call the company back at the phone number on their website. The best approach with email may simply be to delete them because responding to unknown senders may verify that yours is a working email address and cause more unwanted email.
- Resist pressure – Legitimate companies will give you time to make a decision.
- Check your accounts and your credit reports regularly – Review your account balances and your transaction history on a regular basis. If you find a transaction that doesn’t seem familiar, contact us immediately. You are entitled to free copies of your credit reports once a year. They are only available through annualcreditreport.com or 877.322.8228.
If you are ever contacted by Blackhawk and it seems unusual, please end the call and call us back to confirm the call. If you have any questions, our Call Center is here to help at 608.755.6065 or 800.779.5555.
