Identity Theft

Your safety and the confidentiality of your personal and account information is our number one priority.

The NTS Credit Union will NEVER send an e-mail asking you to verify your account information or any other personal information via the internet. If you receive an e-mail of this nature, DO NOT RESPOND. Please forward the e-mail to us at creditunion@ntscu.org and then delete the e-mail. If we need to talk to you about your account, we will call you directly and will only ask you to contact us at our 847-675-6610 phone number. Never provide a caller with any personal or account information. The credit union does not hire outside sources to contact our members for any reason. If you receive a call of this nature, obtain a name and phone number, hang up and call us.

Hundreds of consumers have found themselves the victims of an e-mail scam known as "phishing." It involves high tech fraudsters who pretend to be a legitimate financial institution or credit card company. Hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet, the fraudsters send out "official looking" e-mails designed to trick consumers into divulging financial and personal information such as account numbers, passwords, user names, Social Security Numbers, and other sensitive data. In most cases, the e-mail claims there is an account problem or warns of a possible account fraud threat. Either way, the whole idea is to convince the consumer there is an immediate need to update their financial information. Legitimate Credit Unions, Banks, Card Providers, Stores, Payment Services, etc. will never send you an e-mail asking for sensitive financial information on-line. They have fraud departments to call people if they suspect wrongdoing with your account, your debit or credit card. The bottom line is to be very careful about responding to any e-mail requesting this information from you. .

If you receive an e-mail from the Niles Township Schools Credit Union requesting financial information or any other personal or sensitive data:

The Department of Justice asks the public to report possible phishing schemes to law enforcement. If you have disclosed your personal information to a possible phishing e-mail or web site, you should immediately file an online complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov.

Because the disclosure of personal information may put you at risk of becoming a victim of identity theft, you also should go to the Federal Trade Commission's identy theft website athttp://www.consumer.gov/idtheft and follow the directions there for reporting information to credit bureaus, credit card companies and law enforcement.

If you have received a possible phishing e-mail, but have not responed to it, do not respond. Instead, send copies of the e-mail to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov and the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@antiphishing.org.

	Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three major credit bureaus (see below) to place a fraud alert on your credit file. The fraud alert requests creditors to contact you before opening any new accounts or making any changes to your existing accounts. As soon as the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will be automatically notified to place fraud alerts, and all three credit reports will be sent to you free of charge.
	Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the *ID Theft Affidavit* when disputing new unauthorized accounts.
	File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.
	*File your complaint* with the FTC. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. Filing a complaint also helps us learn more about identity theft and the problems victims are having so that we can better assist you.

Equifax www.equifax.com
To order your report, call: 800-685-1111
To report fraud, call: 800-525-6285/
TDD 800-255-0056 and write:
P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

Experian www.experian.com
To order your report, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
To report fraud, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)/
TDD 800-972-0322 and write:
P.O. Box 9532, Allen TX 75013

TransUnion www.transunion.com
To order your report, call: 800-888-4213
To report fraud, call: 800-680-7289/
TDD 877-553-7803; fax: 714-447-6034; email: fvad@transunion.com or write: Fraud Victim Assistance Department, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790