When scam artists hit AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union, the credit union immediately counterattacked on a wide front.
The result has been a victory for the credit union and its members, an outcome Todd Nelson, vice president of marketing and communication, credits to prompt response plus training and preparedness for security breaches.
The case is still under investigation, but Nelson was able to explain that in early June an alert member notified the credit union that a fraudulent toll-free telephone number had been established in its name. At first it appeared a fake mailing address had also been created, but that did not prove true.
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Within 24 hours the credit union had posted Web notices and sent e-mails and letters to members. Federal authorities were also immediately notified.
The credit union's primary select employee groups, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild, also provided help by promptly posting notices on their websites.
"That AFTRA and SAG were so quick to help inform their members of this breach demonstrates the close partnership the credit union has with its SEGs," Nelson said.
Nelson emphasized that ASFCU went above and beyond any required action to protect members.
"Because no actual data breach had occurred, we were not required to notify each member, but we wanted them to know we are serious about protecting their personal information and will take all necessary precautions to keep their money and identity safe," he said.
Nelson noted that no money or personal information was stolen and no credit union data compromised. That was especially critical because while the privacy of all members is important, the credit union does have in its membership some prominent people from the entertainment industry. A breach of their data would pose special risks.
"It was an opportunity to educate our members they need to be aware fraudulent activity can occur," Nelson said. "Even though we will do everything possible to mitigate any risk, the membership also needs to be savvy. If they are directed to a phone number or a website, or they receive an e-mail or some type of communication that doesn't quite ring true, they should not do anything before contacting us and confirming the information is legitimate."
VSoft Corp. developed its CoreSoft solution in conjunction with a Virginia bank and is focused on community banks right now, with plans to expand to credit unions later this year, a company spokeswoman said.
VSoft said CoreSoft is scalable to any size of financial institution and "meets an industry need to replace legacy systems with a technology that can provide seamless, real-time, high-volume and high-performance transactions across multiple channels supporting all the deposit and lending activities."
Atlanta-based VSoft also said that it reached a milestone of 4,000 credit union branches using its imaging solutions at the end of its fiscal year June 30, and that its global revenue increased 26% for the year.
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