We want you to be aware of recent & widespread scams that have been brought to our attention. Members have reported receiving phone calls from someone saying they are with the Community One Credit Union Fraud Department. This solicitation can also come in the form of email or text.
Please be aware that Community One Credit Union will NEVER call (text or email) & ask you to verify a transaction, ask for your account number and/or PIN, debit or credit card, social security number or online access information in relation to your C1CU accounts.
If you should receive a text on your cell phone or a phone call/email with this type of information, DO NOT call the number back, DO NOT click on the link or give anyone your personal financial information and report it to our office at 330-305-3050 immediately.
Always take the time to consider what a caller is asking of you. Pausing to think for just a moment can prevent someone from using your information to take your money.
We have listed a few articles relating to fraud and identity theft below. Thank you for helping us protect your accounts.
https://www.cantonrep.com/story/money/2024/02/13/woman-loses-1-million-dating-scam/72487113007/
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/12/asia/chinese-scam-operations-american-victims-intl-hnk-dst/
New York (CNN) — Payment apps like PayPal and Venmo might be convenient, but they’re not banks — and a federal financial services watchdog is worried that too many consumers are treating them as such.
Some consumers are using services like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Apple Pay for direct deposit of paychecks, or simply storing lots of cash in them. But the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants people to know they don’t have the same protections as a bank or credit union.
CFPB Director Rohit Chopra warned in a Thursday statement that payment services like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Apple Pay “are increasingly used as substitutes for a traditional bank or credit union account but lack the same protections to ensure that funds are safe.”
More than three-quarters of US adults have used at least one payment app, the agency said.
The watchdog released the comments in the wake of high profile bank failures like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Their customers were made whole because account holders at federally insured financial institutions are guaranteed to get back up to $250,000 per account if the bank fails. (In the case of those two banks, the FDIC even abolished the limit, covering all deposits.)
Payment apps, however, are not federally insured on the institution level. If one of those companies were to go under, then, customers could lose their funds.
There are billions of dollars at risk for consumers as a result of payment apps encouraging customers to store funds rather than just make transactions, said the CFPB in its report. These apps are also not immune to the same type of panic-based bank run that closed down Silicon Valley Bank and others recently, the agency added.
PayPal Holdings (PYPL), which owns both PayPal and Venmo, did not reply to a request for comment Friday. Neither did rival Block (SQ), which owns Cash App as well as payment system Square. But industry trade group, The Financial Technology Association, which represents both firms, defended the safety of the funds.
“Tens of millions of American consumers and small businesses rely on payment apps to better spend, manage, and send their money. These accounts are safe and transparent,” the group said in the statement. “FTA members provide clear and easy-to-understand terms in all their products and prioritize consumer protection every step of the way.”
Some money held in certain types of payment app accounts — PayPal Savings, for example — are indeed deposited in FDIC-member banks and thus would be protected. But much of the funds are held by the services themselves, without federal insurance.
Source: www.cnn.com
By Chris Isidore, CNN
Updated 1:58 PM EDT, Fri June 2, 2023
