Collins Community Credit Union card holders targeted in phishing scam

Police are urging Collins Community Credit Union card holders to ignore any automated phone calls telling them their cards have been deactivated.

Confused customers started calling Collins Community Credit Union administrators last night saying that they had received a robo-call telling them that their debit and credit cards were no longer valid and that they would have to call a 1-800 number to reactivate their accounts.

Cedar Rapids Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin says it's a textbook “phishing” scam where some party, usually from out of state or even out of the country, targets a bank or credit union and uses robo-calls to get the personal account information of trusting account holders. Hamblin said that the credit union has had more than 20 calls from clients who called the 1-800 number and released their information.

“These types of scams are all over the place,” Hamblin said. “If you get a call like this, the first thing you should do is look at the phone number on your card or on your bank statement and call that.”

The compliance and security director at Collins Community Credit Union said that the credit union is monitoring accounts of irregularities, but that customers need to call them as soon as they realize they've given out their financial information to a third-party.

The robo-calls have been contacting non Collins Community Credit Union customers.

Cedar Rapids Police are looking into the situation, but Hamblin said that it's highly difficult to investigate and prosecute phishing scams because too often the guilty parties operate so far away.