Fraud & Security Help

With so many merchant data breaches in the news, we want you to know that Keesler Federal Credit Union is ready to help if your personal or financial data is ever compromised. We take service to our members seriously and will do everything we can to ensure that action is taken – quickly – to help you avoid becoming a victim of identity or account theft.

Your credit union is subject to strong data security standards established by Congress and federal regulators. While data breaches can happen anywhere, we are ready with a plan designed to ensure the safety and confidentiality of your sensitive data.

Unfortunately, merchants and retailers aren’t subject to these federal requirements. Many of them follow their own data security standards, but the recent rash of data breaches shows that much more needs to be done. When it comes to protecting your personal information, every measure counts.

When your debit or credit card data is breached at a retailer, the cost of card replacement or account reimbursement to you is typically paid not by the merchant where the breach occurred, but by your credit union.

We want you to know that in the event of any breach affecting your accounts, this credit union will always do what we can to make you whole. In the meantime, credit unions around the country are leading the effort to get Congress to pass legislation ensuring merchants and retailers meet a national standard for protecting any of your financial data they collect when you make a purchase. We hope you will support us in this effort.

While we can’t control what happens at merchants and retailers, we want you to know that Keesler Federal Credit Union will do everything we can to assist you and your family if a breach does occur when you use your debit or credit card. Feel free to reach out to us at 1-888-533-7537.

You can help us and your fellow Keesler Federal members by forwarding suspicious and fraudulent emails to [email protected]. When you forward a Phishing email to this address, it is instantly analyzed for fraud. If fraud is found, takedown procedures for the websites linked in the emails are initiated. In the majority of cases, it is member action that initiates the process of shutting down these scam artists.

Keesler Federal appreciates the tremendous response we have received from our members, non-members and various organizations in reporting the fraud emails.

Keesler Federal will never ask you to provide information directly through email. At times, members may be asked to confirm details via email or text to confirm activity by clicking a secured link sent directly by our fraud center. If you receive a suspicious email requesting personal information, please call us at 1-888-533-7537.

What is Phishing?
Phishing is a computer-related scam that uses email, pop-up messages or cell phone text messages to deceive you into revealing your credit card numbers, credit union account information, Social Security number, passwords or other personal information. The email or cell phone text message may claim to be from a business or organization you deal with such as your Internet service provider (ISP), cell phone service provider, credit union, federal agency or state agency. These messages usually take an urgent tone asking you to “update” or “validate” your account information immediately or face consequences. If you click the link included in the email, you may be taken to a website that looks like an organization you are familiar with, but is in fact a fake. If you call a number in the cell phone text message, you may be asked to enter personal or account information, but it too is scam.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recommendations for avoiding being taken in by a Phishing scam. Among them:

DO NOT reply or click links included in email requesting personal or financial information. Legitimate organizations don’t ask for sensitive information via email.

DO NOT reply to cell phone text messages requesting personal or financial information. Legitimate organizations don’t ask for sensitive information via text message. At times, members may receive a text asking to verify activity from the phone number 96923, which is our fraud center. This is ONLY to verify debit card activity, do not send any personal information via text message.

DO NOT email personal or financial information. Unlike secured web connections such as Keesler Online Online Account Access, email is not a secure method of transmitting personal information.

If you are concerned about your account, contact the organization by phone or by typing a Web address (URL) you know to be genuine into your browser. The only web address for Keesler Federal is www.kfcu.org.

Review financial account statements as soon as possible to determine whether there are unauthorized charges.

Report suspicious activity to [email protected] and the FTC.

The Federal trade commission has recommendations if you have become a victim of Identity Theft. These recommendations are outlined below. For detailed information visit the FTC’s ID Theft Website.

1. Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three major credit bureaus 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. Once the alert is placed, you may order a free copy of your credit report from all three major credit bureaus.
2. 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. Contact Keesler Federal’s Member Services department at 1-888-KEESLER.
3. File a police report. Get a copy of the report to submit to your creditors and others that may require proof of the crime.
4. 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.

Keesler Federal has designed our online banking platform with safeguards to prevent security breaches. The first line of defense is Secure Sockets Layer or TLS protocol. TLS uses three means to ensure security:

1. Data Encryption – this technology scrambles the information to prevent other computers along the route from eavesdropping. All they see is a meaningless jumble of bytes.
2. Digital Certificate – our site has a digital certificate from Verisign. When you connect to our secure site our computer sends your browser the digital certificate to ensure that you are in fact connecting to our site.
3. Message Authentication Code – this technology provides a way for our computer to verify that the data was not changed from when it left your computer until it was received by our server.

We also take additional measures to ensure your security:

1. Password Protection –  No one can access your account without knowing your account ID and password. If more than three attempts are made to access your account with invalid passwords your account is frozen from home banking access.
2. Firewall –  Our site is protected by firewalls and other safeguards to prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing our systems. These mechanisms are tested and validated regularly to ensure they meet best practice industry standards.

Visa Secure is a free and easy way to enjoy added security to all your online Visa Card purchases. Learn more about Visa Secure.