LANSING, Mich. — MSUFCU is in the process of refunding customers who had a fraudulent charge put on their accounts on New Year's Eve.
The credit union has more than 300,000 customers all across the country, but they say only a very small number were affected by the fraud charges. Regardless, they said they are taking the matter seriously.
Some MSUFCU members are complaining that an unauthorized charge coming from "LOVE-WORLD TV" appeared on their account late on News Year's Eve.
"Very clever on their part. I saw the charge at 11:30, it went through at midnight, knowing that you have a full 24 hours before you can call or come over to the headquarters and do something about it," Joshua Mitchell, an MSUFCU member, said.
Mitchell and his wife are amongst some of the members who were affected. When they went to the credit union to see what was going on, Mitchell said he had no idea they weren't the only ones.
"I'm glad it wasn't just us, but I'm also angry it wasn't just us," he said.
The credit union said they are still trying to figure out what happened.
"Because we don't know the root cause, we can't really identify how this happened. But, we are able to know that there are many different methods that fraudsters use to gain access to the card information and sometimes what they'll do is when they see one particular card that works they'll continue to attempt either that card or similar cards," MSUFCU Chief Marketing Officer Deidre Davis said.
Deidre said what they do know is that it wasn't an MSUFCU information breach.
"We do, like I said, know that it was not anything that has to do with our systems. Our systems are absolutely secure and our members' information is 100% secure," Deidre said.
The credit union is calling all affected members and refunding the charges. Mitchell said that's good enough for him.
"I've been with them for years. I have no intention of going anywhere else," he said.
The credit union said everyone affected should see a refund by Friday morning at the latest. Members of the credit union can go to any location to get a new bank card.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a statement after finding out about the reports of fraud from MSUFCU members.
“This is another example of how fragile our information infrastructure is, and how vulnerable all of us are to cyber hacking,” said Attorney General Dana Nessel. “Unfortunately, here in Michigan, my office is forced to rely on media reports that alert us to these terrible situations because – unlike most other states – we have no law on the books that requires our office to be notified when customers are compromised. I am determined to get information quickly and accurately to take more proactive measures to protect our residents.”
As Nessel said, Michigan law doesn't require any company that experiences a data breach to report it to the Attorney General. including health care systems and financial institutions. Her office wants to change that.
If you ever do believe your information is compromised, Nessel urges you to do the following:
• Find out what information was compromised and act accordingly.
• Pull your free credit report at annualcreditreport.com or by calling 877-322-8228.
• Put a fraud alert on your credit file. The Federal Trade Commission provides a checklist for this.
• Consider a security freeze on your credit file.
• Be alert to unsolicited calls or emails appearing to be from Capital One. Hang up, do not reply, and instead call the number on your card. “Phishing” scams—calls, emails, or text messages that appear to offer protection—may actually be trying to get more data from customers.
• Take advantage of any free services being offered as a result of the breach. In this case, free credit monitoring and identity protection will be made available for everyone affected.
• Use two-factor authentication on your online accounts whenever it’s available.
For more information on what to do when your information has been compromised, click here.
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