EECU warning members of phone scam to get personal information

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Thieves are targeting some Central Valley residents who are members of the Educational Employees Credit Union.

The scammers are sending some of its members a text, informing them that they need call immediately regarding their account.

"I seen it on Facebook, so I was pretty worried about it, you know," EECU member Pao Moua said.

Educational Employees Credit Union posted a warning to members of scammers texting and calling them while pretending to be the bank.

"It looks like it is from the bank too," Moua said.

The call-back number is a recorded message, alerting members that there is a problem with their account and requires them to call and give up their card number or personal information.

"You trust your bank a lot, you know," Moua said. "And sometimes when they call, you just automatically blurt it out."

The EECU says it is dealing with a handful of these cases. It notes though that typically if there is a problem with an account, the account member is usually the first to call the bank and not the other way around.

But if they do call, the credit union says there are certain things they would never do.

"We wouldn't ask a card number, for your pin," the bank said. "We wouldn't ask for anything that is private to you."

The Better Business Bureau said this scam is also targeting non-bank members as well, and spokesperson Kayleena Speakman says thieves are doing it at a time when they know people are getting money.

"We see it a lot," she said. "They always say it's tax season, AKA fraud season, so be on the lookout."

Moua is planning to do just that, and he already has a plan in place if he becomes the next potential victim of this fraudulent scheme.

"If they do call me, I probably just hang up and call my bank back to see if they really did need something," he said.

And the bank says you should do just that. The number that was used to send out those texts is now disconnected, but the BBB says it does not mean thieves won't get another number and do the exact same thing."