We have been notified of a phishing attempt in which scammers are texting random phone numbers in the Erie area, posing as Widget Financial. There has been no breach of member data. These scammers are simply dialing the Erie area code and telephone exchanges (the first three digits of Erie numbers) followed by a random four digits.
These scam messages include links that lead to web pages designed to resemble the Credit Union Mobile Banking sign-in page. However, there are several ways to evaluate the authenticity of these messages:
- Widget Financial will never send you a text message or email asking you to log in to a secure site.
- Widget Financial exclusively uses the web address widgetfinancial.com.
- Legitimate Widget Financial fraud alert messages will only request confirmation or denial of a transaction and will not ask for sensitive information.
- Often fraudulent messages contain many misspellings or grammatical errors.
If you receive one of these fraudulent messages, it is advisable to delete it without clicking any links. In the event that you provided your online banking credentials or other sensitive information to the website mentioned in one of these messages, please contact the Credit Union immediately at 814.456.6231. We will assist you in verifying your account activity and securing your account.
