| SDCCU shares some tips and information on
how to stay protected against scams. Scams are becoming more prevalent in our everyday lives, even in the retail space. There have been countless retail and social media marketplace scams that have recently emerged, and we want you to be aware of them. Retail scams involve receiving emails, phone calls or text messages from big box retailers and popular e-commerce sites urgently requesting your membership or payment information to be updated. They may also send a link via text or email with fake shipment delivery tracking information, or ask you to click the link to confirm a purchase. Social media marketplace scams will offer a "hot deal" for an item, but require the payment to be made in advance via a payment app. Check out these tips to help protect you from scammers. • Think twice before making a purchase over the phone. You should never share sensitive information with someone on an unsolicited phone call. If they ask you to purchase something or share your sensitive information, even if it's from a company you normally do business with, hang up and call the phone number listed on their website to confirm that the phone call is legitimate. • Verify sender information and do not click any links. Scammers posing as a familiar company are likely to have misspelled words, bad grammar or an email address that does not match the name of the company. If there are any links within the message, do not click on them! • Make sure the retail website is secure when ordering online. The "s" in "https" stands for secure. When making any online purchase, use a website that starts with "https." Ordering something from a website that starts with "http" can make you more susceptible to scams. • Be wary of "hot deals" on social media marketplaces. Fraudsters will sell items on social media marketplaces and will market them as "one-of-a-kind" or "hot" deals. If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. • If purchasing an item off a social media marketplace, do not pay for the item up front. Swindlers are known to ask for payment for items through a payment app and never providing the product. Pay for items upon meeting the seller to avoid fraudulent activity. To access additional resources to help guard against fraud and scams, visit sdccu.com/scams. | 
