Banking scam targets Coquille residents

By Alexander Rich, Staff Writer
Friday, August 01, 2008 | 10 comment(s)

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The ringing began at 6:30 Wednesday.

Many Coquille residents woke up to the automated calls informing them their Oregon First Community Credit Union credit cards had been suspended.

This was a surprise, especially for people in Coquille who don’t own such cards.

Many called the credit union. Others the Coquille Police Department.

But a few dutifully followed the message’s instructions and called a Southern California phone number, giving out their personal account information.

They were scammed.

Denise DeWald, regional vice president for Oregon First, said the credit union believes the calls were made by someone targeting people through the phone book. She said only credit union members with Coquille’s 396 prefix have indicated they received a call.

Such scams can originate when credit union information is stolen and, in fact, the message suggested there was a security breach at Oregon First. But DeWald said the scammers do not seem to have gotten any sensitive information from the credit union.

“Our system is safe and secure,” DeWald said.

She noted some people who are not credit union members called to say they had received the message. A Coquille Police Department spokeswoman said even the police department got a couple of messages from the scammers.

DeWald said more than 50 people have contacted the Coquille banking center to report receiving the call. She suggested the scammers targeted Coquille because it is home to the credit union’s main office.

Oregon First operates 22 banking centers in the state, including six in Coos County. Chartered in Coquille in 1957, the credit union was headquartered on Central Boulevard for more than 40 years before moving into its new offices on North Adams Street in 2004. Coquille’s City Hall is located in the credit union’s former offices.

DeWald said she is aware of Oregon First members experiencing online scams in the past, though not anything like what happened Wednesday.

Some members told credit union staff they provided the scammers with their account information, she said. The credit union immediately blocked those accounts.

DeWald offered this reminder to people: Oregon First would never ask members to call in with account information.

“If anyone gave out their account information, they should definitely call us immediately,” she said.

The credit union can be contacted at 396-2145.
Beware of scam


What: a telephone scam to get Oregon First Community Credit Union members to divulge their account information.


When: calls started at 6:30 Wednesday morning.


Do Not Call: the Southern California phone number provided on the recorded message.


Who to Call: the Oregon First Community Credit Union, at 396-2145, if you have any inkling someone is trying to scam you over banking services.
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Informed citizen wrote on Aug 6, 2008 2:24 PM:

Do you people not realize that your local police dept doesn't handle these kind of scams? The calls are often coming from out of state, sometimes even out of this country. Your Attorney General or the FBI handles this kind of crime. The local police simply forward the info you give them to the proper authorites. Get informed before you spout off.

coastal friend wrote on Aug 2, 2008 1:56 PM:

I can not speak for the others, but my comments were not meant to be rude.That is why I stated this is a wake up call for all of us.
Every time we can educate someone else about these vermin who pray on others, is one step to stopping the abuse.
The paper did it's job in making us aware, now we need to tell as many people as we can.

Crime Pays wrote on Aug 1, 2008 10:03 AM:

As long as our DA's office doesn't prosecute any of the numerous types of frauds that are active, these thieves will continue to make money and continue to commit crimes. Whoever said, "Crime doesn't pay" had no idea that in Coos County its one of the best paying jobs out there.

TheMom wrote on Aug 1, 2008 9:40 AM:

I have to agree with Rude - it's not wise to assume that the victims in this crime should have known better. There are plenty of elderly out there who are suffering the early symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer's. Give 'em a break. And as for the scam, I was the target of a different kind of scam so I played along long enough to have them send me a "cashier's check" for an amount well over the price I was asking for my item. I turned over the unopened envelope along with hard copies of all the emails of the deal to my local police station. WHAT A JOKE THEY WERE! Couldn't possibly have cared less. There were fingerprints INSIDE that envelope but they weren't about to dedicate any time or effort to nabbing the scammers. So, until law enforcement wants to do something about stopping these scams, make sure your ENTIRE family and any elderly friends are educated about what to be watchful for.

another member wrote on Aug 1, 2008 9:16 AM:

We also got the call, but I knew right away that a call from the credit union wouldn't come in at 6:30 am...I hung up. We also had a call one day from their fraud dept when I had placed an online order of over a thousand dollars. They were smart to confirm that it was me since we never do that. I was glad they checked. It made me feel good that they were looking out for us.

Happy OFCCU Member wrote on Aug 1, 2008 6:37 AM:

The credit union called me one day to confirm a credit card purchase on my account because it was something that was not my usual type of purchase. Of course, it was on my CU Visa or they wouldn't have known.

I was happy to know that they were watching out for me, even though the purchase was something I had ordered.

RUDE wrote on Jul 31, 2008 10:11 PM:

YOU TWO WHO ARE CRITICIZING PEOPLE WHO GOT SUCKED INTO THIS SCAM SHOULD BE ASHAMED! THE YOUNG & THE ELDER MAY NOT BE AS AWARE AS THE TWO OF YOU! INSTEAD OF CRITICIZING THE VICTIMS, YOU SHOULD SHOW YOUR SUPPORT. DISRESPECTFUL IS WHAT YOU'RE BEING!

coastal friend wrote on Jul 31, 2008 6:10 PM:

This should serve as a wake up call for all of us.
NEVER EVER give out any information unless you initiated that call.
When anyone calls me about personal information, I tell them no, then proceed to call the valid number I have for that business to verify the call.
Better safe than sorry.

ian dorsett wrote on Jul 31, 2008 1:04 PM:

When will we ever learn-NEVER give out personal information over the phone unless you know who you are dealing with! your bank will never ask and neither will your credit card- they already have it! Good Luck!

A fool and their money wrote on Jul 31, 2008 12:01 PM:

I find it hard to believe that people are still falling for these scams. They hear about them on the TV news, Internet, Newspaper and even in their statements from the banks themselves, and yet they fall for it.

I just don't understand how anyone could be so gullable and really feel sorry for those that fall for this.

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