Know the Red Flags: Protect Your Accounts from Telephone Fraud

HOPE wants to help members defend against fraudulent activity by providing a reminder about how to spot attempts to gain unauthorized account access. 

One common scheme criminals use is to call people posing as a financial institution employee who needs information to “verify transactions” on an account. The caller asks for account details and/or debit/credit card information, including the full card number, the expiration date, and the CVV code to confirm the transactions.

If you receive a call following this pattern, follow these important rules:

• Hang up immediately!
• Call HOPE’s Member Service Center at 1-866-321-4673 to report the incident.
• Let us know if you did provide any personal, account, or card information so that we can take appropriate steps to protect your funds.
• You can report the call to the Federal Communications Commission by completing their phone complaint form.

Please note that although HOPE does monitor member accounts for fraudulent card activity and does contact members to verify suspected unauthorized transactions, remember the following points:

• You will never be asked to provide the full details of your personal, account, or card information.
• You may be asked to confirm the information we already have on file, but only non-account details or parts of sensitive information (for example):
  • The last four digits of your social security number
  • Your street address

Learn more about our fraud monitoring and alerting services, as well as other resources to help protect your accounts, by visiting https://hopecu.org/convenience/card-services/.