Phishing, pronounced “fishing” is a form of identity theft. It occurs when someone acts as if they are representing an organization and tries to “hook” the consumer into providing personal information. With a name and any of this personally identifying information, the identity thief can apply for credit in the consumer’s name and damage the consumer’s financial reputation for years to come. Phishing can occur through various forms of communication including: email, telephone and fake websites.

Vishing, a new trend of fraud attempts is a combination of “voice” and “phishing,” which refers to the use of the telephone to launch attempts to separate unsuspecting customers from their personal information. The callers use telephone solicitation and telephone call back techniques to prey upon consumers’ trust of telephone-based alerts from institutions.

SDCCU will never ask you for personal information (as defined below) in an email or direct you to call a phone number in an email, other than the main SDCCU call back number (877) 732-2848.

SDCCU does utilize a fraud monitoring company for Visa transactions; therefore, you may be contacted to verify card usage. The call back telephone number for the fraud monitoring service is (800) 830-8574.

If you responded to such an email or phone call and provided any personal information, please notify SDCCU immediately and change your Internet Branch Password (this can be done through Internet Branch Self Service).

If you feel that you have received a fraudulent phishing attack, please email abuse@sdccu.com and forward any email or phone instructions that you might have received. If you are asked to call a suspicious phone number regarding your account, call our main phone number, (877) 732-2848, to reach us.

Personal information is defined as the individual’s first name or initial and last name in combination with any of the following data elements: Social Security number, Driver’s license number or California Identification card number, or account number, credit card number, debit card number, in combination with any required security code, access code or password (PIN) that would permit access to an individual's financial account(s).