Protect Your Identity And Beware of Phishing
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S. and it is
important to be aware of the many ways that criminals gain access to your
personal information. One method is called Phishing. Phishing is a scam that
uses either email or telephone calls to trick consumers into disclosing
their sensitive information such as credit card numbers, financial account
information, Social Security numbers and passwords.

In their attempt to defraud individuals, spammers send email messages that
link to false web pages. It is their goal to get you to submit personal
information. The information that is collected is often used for the
enjoyment of the criminal at the expense of the victim's wallet and trust.
Upon receiving consumers' personal information they begin racking up credit
card debt, loans, fake cell phone and utility bills and generally causing
much harm to the individual's credit and identity.

Some fake phishing emails disguise themselves as legitimate companies such
as ebay.com and PayPal.com. To make the scam even more convincing the email
often directs the recipient to a page on the real site after they have
submitted personal data.

A recent report on identity theft warned that there is likely to be "mass
victimization" of consumers within the next two years. Consumers should be
careful and monitor their personal financial transactions and information on
a regular basis for an unexplained activity.

It is important to remember to guard your personal information. Do not give
out any personal information such as as account numbers unless you initiate
the call. No one should call and ask your to verify personal information
over the telephone or through email.

Internet E-Mail Fraud Alert
Recently there have been multiple e-mail fraud attempts, know as "phishing",
that were initiated via e-mail to both the general public and to some credit
union members that appear to be from the NCUA (National Credit Union
Administration). Some AFCU members have reported that they have received
this email. The false e-mail asks the recipient to click on a link to verify
their credit union account registration. If the recipient proceeds to do so,
the link directs them to a flee website and asks for their credit union
account number and PIN, along with other personal information.

It is important to remember that Autotruck FCU and the NCUA  will not
contact you for personal account information at any time. Never give any
personal account information including account numbers to anyone unless you
are absolutely sure who is receiving the information. Anyone who receives an
e-mail from the NCUA that asks for account information should consider it to
be a fraudulent attempt to obtain their personal account data for illegal
purposes and should not follow the instructions in the e-mail.