Scams targeting people often play on their trust. We want to empower you to spot the latest scams and know a fraud when you see it. We are seeing an increase in phishing telephone scams involving fraudsters posing as members of a technology department, fraud department, utility, or government entity.

TEG is committed to keeping your personal and account information secure. We will never contact you via phone, e-mail, or text message to ask for your account number, social security number, or password. However, if you initiate a call to us, we will ask for some identifying information before we disclose any information on your accounts.

Tip: When in doubt, hang up the phone and call us at 845-452-7323 or the number listed on the back of your debit or credit card. 

How to Spot a Financial Imposter

Imposter scams use a variety of tricks to gain your trust and steal your money, but they often start with a simple call, email, or message impersonating a person or company you know to trick you into giving them your money.

Credit Union Members across the country are receiving phone calls from fraudsters posing as credit union employees, who tell them that their account has been compromised or that their credit/debit card will be or has been deactivated due to inactivity or for other various reasons.

What to look for:

• Scammers can duplicate the phone numbers of financial institutions, so the caller ID appears to be coming from a legitimate source. They often use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may use bits of your personal information or card data to ask you to prove ownership and to convince you that they are genuine representatives. They can use this info to gain unauthorized access to your account.
• You might then be asked for your additional private information. TEG will NEVER contact you directly to request any of your account information, including:
  • Social Security Number
  • Credit or Debit Card numbers
  • Security Code or CVV
  • PIN – Personal Identification Number
  • Address
  • Date of Birth
  • Online Banking Login Information
  • Verification Codes
  • Passwords
• Scammers will try to gain remote access to your personal devices. They might ask you to reveal your access code so that they can steal your money. Don’t ever share your temporary access codes or PIN with anyone who calls you unexpectedly claiming they can fix an unknown issue. Your Financial Institution or the government will never ask you for this information. Should you happen to receive a call like this, please know that this is NOT a call from TEG Federal Credit Union or any of our staff.

Please contact us at our Solution Center at 845.452.7323, so we can stay at the forefront of any potential scams or fraud campaigns targeting our members.

Finally, please share this information with friends and family members who may be more susceptible and vulnerable to this type of fraud.