Security Alerts

January 16, 2009 - Phishing Scam
A fraudulent e-mail seeking credit card information (known as a "phishing fraud") has been circulating nationwide since 2 p.m. EST today. This fraudulent phishing email appears to be from NCUA and contains a link purportedly to obtain a subscription for the NCUA Express Subscription service. When that link is used, the recipient is directed to a "clone" of the NCUA Express Service site that seeks credit card information from those to whom the phish was sent. If you receive such an email, please ignore it, as it is fraudulent. The NCUA does NOT charge for the Express Subscription service and does NOT solicit credit card information over the Internet. If you have questions or comments, please contact the NCUA Fraud Hotline at 800-827-9650 or, during off duty hours, at 703-728-0700

August 1, 2008 - Phishing Scam: Fraudulent Phone Calls
Please be aware that we are getting reports that there have been automated phone messages stating that "Your Sarasota Coastal Credit Union card has been suspended. Please call 418-615-3159 immediately."

These calls were NOT generated from Sarasota Coastal Credit Union. The phone number the calls were generated from is out of Quebec, Canada.

If you did call the number and gave any of your personal information, contact our Service Center at (941) 907-4000 immediately as your card and account information may now be compromised.

Sarasota Coastal Credit Union will NEVER contact you via a computer generated phone call or email asking you to verify your information.

If you ever have suspicions about such correspondence, contact us by phone at (941) 907-4000, in person at any branch, or via email to info@sccu.org.

June 9, 2008 - VISA® Debit Card Compromise
In March 2008, Hannaford/SweetBay Supermarket made an announcement that they had experienced a security breach. Some Sarasota Coastal Credit Union debit cards were affected, and letters were mailed to potentially affected credit union cardholders. Be assured that we are actively monitoring the activity on your account to protect you from fraud.

Over the past few days, there have been increased fraudulent activities being reported by some cardholders. As we review account history, we may determine that it is necessary to close any card where it appears that suspicious activity may be occurring. We will make every attempt to notify you either through email or phone if your account has been affected.

In the event fraud does occur, as a Visa debit or credit cardholder you are protected with Visa’s Zero Liability policy, which means you pay nothing for unauthorized purchases on your account. Although certain account data has been exposed in the incident reported in March 2008, that does not necessarily mean that data related to your account was taken or that fraud has or will occur on your account.

We understand that this situation may be stressful, and that you may feel more comfortable having a new debit card account number. If you would like to request a new debit card, we can issue you a new card and have it expedited to you. To request a new debit card, please contact us at (941) 907-4000, option 5 for our Service Center.

As always, we strongly encourage you to review your accounts on Coastal PB regularly and to look closely at your monthly statements, and call us immediately if you see any suspicious activity.