PEWAUKEE, Wis. — A new “phishing” scam aims to prey on members of credit unions–not-for-profit, member-owned financial institutions that have more than two million members in Wisconsin.

Several members of a Wisconsin credit union received an e-mail questionnaire recently that prompted them to “take part in a quick and easy 5 question survey” and offered to credit $100 to member accounts for doing so. Following the questions, members were prompted for personal information including account numbers and passwords. The message appeared to be generated by the credit union's online services department.

Though the credit union alerted its members upon discovering the scam, it is unclear how many individuals may have fallen victim to this growing form of identity theft.

“No credit union or any credit union-affiliated organization would ever send an e-mail like this asking its members for personal information,” said Brett Thompson, president/CEO of the Wisconsin Credit Union League.

Thompson adds, however, that this new spin on “phishing”–whereby con artists use mass messages like e-mails or advertisements to elicit personal information–has been particularly effective in other situations.

“It plays on people's desire to get something free–in this case, cash–for relatively little effort. It's not surprising many people react quickly to what they see,” Thompson said.

Similar “questionnaire” scams, he adds, have been reported by credit union members in Illinois and Minnesota. Consumers who are concerned they may have received this solicitation should contact their credit union as well as the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft or 1-877-IDTHEFT.