Our members should be aware of cybercrime and they should take precautions to reduce the effectiveness of activities such as phishing. 

What is cyber fraud?

There are primarily two kinds of cyber fraud activities happening at the present time: phishing (where people are tricked into divulging their login information), and Brute Force attacks where fraudsters use automated tools to attempt thousands of combinations of user-names and passwords to find a successful login match to gain access to an account.  

Phishing occurs when cybercriminals try to obtain sensitive information by imitating a trustworthy organization in electronic communications, like emails or text messages. Phishing is increasingly common and impacts a wide range of organizations in almost every sector. During particular seasons or times of year, fraudsters will use social engineering techniques to catch consumers with their guard down.

How can you protect yourself?  

Protecting your privacy is important. Please read these tips on keeping your online access safe.

1. Check before you click! Use caution when opening documents of any kind: do you know the sender? If so, did you expect to receive it? Is it in a format you expect? It is well worth a few extra minutes to think about these questions.
2. Do NOT click on any links or reply to messages requesting personal information. Hover your mouse over the highlighted link, and you should be able to see if it looks legitimate.
3. Enter sensitive information like your passwords only on websites you are familiar with. NEVER enter your login information or password on a link you click from any text or email.
4. You should never share your online, mobile or telephone banking passwords. If you choose to share your password with another person, please be aware that they will have access to all of your Kawartha financial information, including accounts and transaction history.
5. Use 8 digit passwords and avoid sequential numbers (i.e. 12345), and personal information like your date of birth or your phone number. Don’t use the same password for everything, and change your passwords every three months.
6. Regularly review your account activity and maintain awareness of your accounts. If you see something unusual or suspicious, let us know right away.

How will you know if you have been impacted?

Members should regularly review their account activity and maintain awareness of their accounts. If something looks unusual or suspicious, let us know right away. It’s also a good practice to use 8 digit passwords, update passwords frequently, and keep software up to date.  

What do members do if they have been impacted?

Members should follow these steps if they are concerned that they have been impacted:

1. Contact Kawartha Credit Union
2. Reset your password, and have us reset your credentials. Members will also need to change credentials in other accounts that they access off of the same devices (e.g. email or social media accounts).
3. Do a virus scan on any devices used to access online channels.