Yakima,WA (MVT) - The Yakima Valley Credit Union posted a fraud update on their website at www.yvcu.org/pages/fraud_alert.php. MVT received one of these emails this morning and decided to take a look into it.
The Yakima Valley Credit Union website contains this alert:
IMPORTANT SCAM ALERT: February
4, 2008 - YVCU will never ask for your personal information through
e-mail or by phone. Bogus e-mails and phone calls requesting personal
& financial information have hit the Yakima area and some of our
Credit Union members are receiving them.
Here is the information they are hoping you will provide to them:
Your ATM, Debit, Or Credit Card account number
Your PIN (Personal Identification Number)
Card expiration number
CVV number from the back of your card
Please do not respond. If you ever have any questions about correspondence you receive regarding your account, please contact a YVCU office.
Here is an example of the letter being sent by the scammers:
Dear Yakima Valley Credit Union Customer,
This is your official notification from Yakima Valley Credit Union. Your online account has expired. If you want
to continue using our service you have to renew your online account. If not, your online account
will be deactivated and deleted.
To continue click here, complete the renew form with your current
information.
Many Thanks and Kind Regards - Yakima Valley Credit Union- Update Department
Here is what the source code of the email contains:
<p><b><font face="Times New Roman" color="#808080">Dear Yakima Valley Credit Union Customer,</font></b><font face="Times New Roman"><br>
</font><font face="Arial"><br>
<font size="2">This is your official notification from Yakima Valley Credit Union. Your online account has expired.
If you want <br>
to
continue using our service you have to renew your online account. If not, your online account <br>
will be deactivated and deleted.</font>
</font><font face="Times New Roman">
<br><br>
<b>To continue <a xhref="http://www.myyvcu.org/">click here</a>, complete the renew form
with your current<br>information.<br></b><br>
</font><font face="Arial" color="#808080" size="2">
Many Thanks and Kind Regards - Yakima Valley Credit Union- Update Department</font></p>
The text in bold highlights the address of the site you will be taken to when you click on the link. The criminals have added the prefix "my" to the yvcu.org address. This will take you to the scammer's site where they will attempt to have you enter personal information.
At this time, the scammer's domain has been deactivated. This is not unusual. The information thiefs will change domains shortly after creating them. They bet on a few unfortunate persons to fall prey to the scam and then move on.
A check of the scammer's domain gives the following result:
Domain ID:D150880395-LROR
Domain Name:MYYVCU.ORG
Created On:05-Feb-2008 10:09:58 UTC
Last Updated On:05-Feb-2008 10:09:59 UTC
Expiration Date:05-Feb-2009 10:09:58 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Melbourne IT, Ltd. dba Internet Names Worldwide (R52-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:D12022057533886
Registrant Name:Dan Jim
Registrant Organization:Dan Jim
Registrant Street1:P.O. Box 1898
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Laredo
Registrant State/Province:TX
Registrant Postal Code:78044
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.9567960382
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:
This is obviously not the Yakima Valley Credit Union! The yvcu.org lookup gives the following results:
Registrant:
Yakima Valley Credit Union
401 Tieton
Yakima,
WA
98907
US
Domain Name: YVCU.ORG
This is what a valid registrar should look like.
Remember that any email asking for personal information is a warning to you. Check into the source of the email and confirm the authenticity. An easy way to check on a suspicious site is to perform a web search on the site with the word "scam" included in the search.
There are many scam information websites available. Here are the top three:
Yakima,WA (MVT) - The Yakima Valley Credit Union posted a fraud update on their website at 
IMPORTANT SCAM ALERT: 
Dow Jones
