Holiday Scam Prevention Tips

By Ann Davidson, Vice President of Risk Consulting, Allied Solution

Scam Prevention Tips for Members:

• Always use your chip card when shopping in store.
• Check your financial accounts regularly to confirm you recognize all listed transactions.
• Create unique, complex passwords for all of your secure accounts.
• Sign up for additional account verification and protection methods whenever offered (i.e. a security question or unique login code via phone/text/email).
• Sign up for text/email/phone notifications through your credit union or other verified sources (i.e. the Mint app) to receive immediate transaction alerts.
• Immediately contact your credit union to report suspicious card activity; if given the option, turn your card off immediately.
• If you receive a phone call or text claiming to be from Centric and asking for personal or financial information, call Centric directly at 318.340.9656 to verify the request before providing any info.

• Don’t click or open an attachment if you don’t know the email sender.
• If you receive a suspicious email or attachment from an email sender you know, send a new email to the individual to verify they sent it before opening.
• Do not send or respond to an email where the listed email address redirects you to a different email address when replying.
• Be careful when downloading unfamiliar retailer/shopping apps, as fake apps are created to steal your information, especially during the holidays.
• Be on the lookout for fake charity scams, which ramp up after catastrophes and during the holidays; verify the legitimacy of a charity before contributing to any donation requests from an unknown source.
• When using P2P payment apps like Venmo or Zelle, make sure you know for sure who you are sending money to before paying anyone.
• Be aware of “sweetheart scams” where a stranger reaches out with a claim of romantic interest, and then eventually asks for your money or financial information.
• Purchase gift cards in store or even through your credit union, to avoid empty gift card scams.