http://www.cuispa.org/announcement.php?39
Announcements [View All]
ALERT: HELOC/WIRE TRANSFER SCAM
1/9/08 Webcast Slides: [PDF]
CUISPA released an alert, today, to credit unions informing them of a new fraud
targeting home equity lines of credit. CUISPA is asking all credit unions to
immediately notify their call center reps of this scam. Starting in December
credit unions began identifying suspect attempts to wire transfer money from
member owned HELOC accounts.
The fraudsters make the wire requests by phone armed with extensive personal
information for verification purposes, including all necessary authentication
information, most recent transactions, family member names, account
information, address, phone, etc. Additionally, the fraudsters are requesting
phone line forwarding from the phone companies to circumvent call-back
procedures. Average attempts on the transfers range between $70k and $900K.
We began receiving notification of this scam from members on New Years Eve,
says Kelly Dowell, CUISPA Executive Director. After polling our constituents,
we heard that some started receiving these attempts in November. Although, the
frequency accelerated around Christmas. At this point the FBI and Secret
Service have been notified and have open cases.
We speculate at least some of the information necessary to perform these
attacks is coming from public land records providing details about the HELOC
accounts, credit lines, and signature samples. Additionally, the perpetrator(s)
are making multiple calls into the institutions call center asking for basic
information like account balances, in an effort to verify the authentication
procedures of the institution. In most cases the perpetrator is ordering a
credit report on the account holder within 24 hours of attempting the transfer.
With proper signature, the wire transfer requests are faxed in or called into
the credit union. In some occurrences even the fax header uses the account
holders actual home phone number. Call back verification is being circumvented
by (the fraudsters) transfering/forwarding the account holders secure phone
number to an alternate number answered by the fraudster. Call Id systems are
being spoofed to show the account holders secure phone number.
It is strongly recommended that all member-facing employees be notified of this
scam and to be cautious of giving out account specific information that would
not be public. Precautions for future wire transfers should include checking
for recent changes to phone number(s) and address changes for any HELOC and
using your CU security verification question procedures. Be aware of calls from
member who do not perform many transactions. Listen for pauses in conversations
and red flag calls where the person appears to be looking for verification
answers. Requests for address or phone number changes should be considered
suspect.
CUISPA is in the process of scheduling a Webcast to educate institutions on
this scam. For more information logon to www.cuispa.org and click on events.
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