Dear Members:

In late April, Mazuma Credit Union was the target of a smishing (text message) scam. In the past, we, like many financial institutions, have been victims of phishing (e-mail) and vishing (phone) scams. We continuously warn our membership in newsletters, on our Web site, and in our lobbies of the threat of these types of scams and have offered tips to protect your accounts. The most important tip we offer is to NEVER provide sensitive information without verifying the identity of the person or organization with whom you are dealing.

Fraudsters are continually looking for new ways to capture your personal information so they can steal your hard-earned money. At the Credit Union, we have implemented a range of high-end technology mechanisms to secure your data against virtually any attack. However, we cannot control access codes, account numbers and passwords outside our systems.

We have constantly reminded Members to NEVER click on a link from an e-mail or text message, and NEVER provide personal information over the phone. Contact us first even if you have to wait to do so—sometimes the number of people hit by a scam can overwhelm our phone systems. We will always work with you to fix a REAL problem and reverse fees or other negative impacts even if it takes you some time to get through to us. If you have been asked to call the Credit Union, always verify the phone number with the number listed on your account statements (816-361-4194, 888-361-4194). If you have been asked to visit a Web site, never click on the link. Instead, type “www.mazuma.org” into your Web browser’s address bar. 

While we are not the only financial institution that has been affected by these types of scams, we have been attacked many times in many ways over the past several months. As a cooperative, when something of this nature occurs, we must look at how it affects our entire membership.

We sympathize deeply with those Members affected by the scam. However, Mazuma is in no way responsible for these scams, and because we are a cooperative organization where all gains earned by the Credit Union go back to the membership, we cannot ask other Members to cover the losses of those Members who fall victim to scams. Several Members received the text-message and acted in the cautious way we have warned many times in the past…by not clicking on the link or dialing the number. It is not fair to take these Members’ funds and use them to compensate Members who did provide sensitive information.

We realize that people who have been affected by a scam are emotional about recovering their losses. Our responsibility is to consider ALL of our Members’ interests, and the Board has agreed that we will not generally cover these types of losses. We sincerely hope that those Members affected by the scam can understand our decision on this matter. We must act in a way that is prudent for the entire membership.

Rob Givens                                                        Thomas Reck
President                                                            Chairman of the Board

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