What is Phishing?

One of the most common scams, phishing uses fraudulent emails posing as a legitimate source , such as Texans Credit Union, to steal your personal or financial information. This personal information is then used to impersonate you or steal money from your accounts.These emails often look legitimate, complete with company names, logos, and a look and feel that you recognize. The emails are designed to get you to click through to a website where they will ask you to enter your personal or financial information.

Remember: Texans Credit Union will never email, text, or call you requesting your personal or financial information!

How Phishing Impacts You

Cybercriminals may use phishing scams to steal your username and/or password and other personal information to gain access to personal information or accounts to steal money, financial data, or other sensitive information, such as identity theft, or extortion, among other acts.

What can you do to protect yourself? Here are some practical tips to stay protected against phishing attacks. Use these tips on your personal devices, and at home.

1. Be alert when it comes to phishing attacks

Never click on links, download files, or open attachments in emails (or on social media), even if it appears to be from a known, trusted source. Always be wary of emails asking for confidential information - expecially if it asks for personal details or banking information. Legitimate organizations will never request sensitive information via email.

2. Does that email look suspicious?

Plenty of phishing emails are fairly obvious. They will be punctuated with plenty of typos, words in capitals and exclamation marks. They may also have an impersonal greeting - think of those 'Dear Customer' or 'Dear Sir/Madam' salutations - or feature implausible and generally surprising content. Cybercriminals will often make mistakes in these emails intentionally to improve responses and weed out the 'smart' recipients who won't fall for the con.

3. Be watchful of threats and urgent deadlines

Most phishing attacks succeed because we are always in a hurry. Online surfing is serious business and things should not be done in haste. Usually, scamming emails contain threats and urgency, especially if coming from what claims to be a legitimate company. Some of these threats may include notices about a fine or advising you to do something to stop your account rom being closed. Ignore the scare tactics and contact the company directly via their website or phone. Do not get pressured into providing sensitive information.