NEWS

Safari Club

Our 3rd Annual Savings Safari Club Winterfest was held on February 10th. Members of the club turned out at the Lockport branch of Niagara County's Federal Credit Union with parents and/ or grandparents. A Magician was there for entertainment, healthy snacks were served and coloring and craft projects were provided for activities. Gift baskets were awarded to two lucky members containing snow cone machines and other goodies. View Pictures.

PHISHING **WARNING**

The Credit Union, NCUA and CUNA Mutual will NEVER contact you by e-mail and ask you for personal, private or financial information.

There is currently an e-mail being circulated from ncua.gov. This is a fraudulent e-mail and is being used to collect your personal information. DO NOT open this e-mail or go to any website to which the e-mail directs you. Forward the e-mail to pfishing@ncua.gov where the information on these fraudulent e-mails is being collected.

There is another e-mail being sent which says there is a problem with your account and asks you to call a number. When you do, it asks you to key in your account number.

The Credit Union, NCUA and CUNA Mutual will NEVER contact you by e-mail and ask you for personal, private or financial information. If you ever have questions about this type of letter, phone call or e-mail you receive, please call the Credit Union (716-434-4180) prior to giving out any information.

Phishers seek every opportunity to find individuals who are willing to provide information for the criminals to tap into a financial gain from credit union members. Once a member provides the personal and/or financial information, the fraudsters are off and running to create financial losses to the member and the credit union.

The phishers continue to change their phony e-mails by including false fraud protection techniques as a new twist to convince members the e-mail is from the credit union with the added educational information. Because of everyone's fraud awareness, the phishers lure members to "take action" and provide the information by using an "online banking" log-in which will re-direct this site to the fraudster.

The "take action" the phishers are asking your members to perform is:

• deactivate their card(s) temporarily to guard against fraud
• activate their card(s) by having them long on to an "online banking system" where the phishers are able to obtain member's card information.

The phishers will tell you there is no need to contact your credit union to validate the e-mail or telephone request involving the deactivation and activation process.

• Never click on any links provided in an e-mail you believe is fraudulent
• Do not open an attachment to an unsolicited e-mail unless you have verified the source
• Do not be intimidated by an e-mail or caller who suggest dire consequences if you do not immediately provide or verify information.
• If you believe the contact is legitimate, go to the company's website by typing in the site address directly or using a page you have previously book marked, instead of using a link provided in the e-mail.