Today’s world is full of fraud. Criminals are using every means possible to get access to your identity and your money. They’ll send emails with viruses to steal your information, call you on the phone pretending to be your bank, mail a letter posing as the IRS, and so much more!

The scary part is that sometimes, these criminals are pretty convincing. That’s why it’s more important than ever to know how to identify a fraudulent message from Pioneer (and in general) and what to do with it. We’ve broken down many popular and recent methods to help you be prepared.

General Rules of Pioneer Contacting You

Occasionally, Pioneer has to contact members in order to best serve you. Whenever we do so, we follow very specific rules to keep you protected. They are:

• We will never ask for your account numbers. We already have that information and don’t use it to confirm your identity.
• We will only contact you from a confirmed Pioneer method, never with a personal email or phone number. Only accept calls from (208) 587-3304 or emails ending with @pioneerfcu.org.
• If contacting you, we won’t ask for information to validate your debit/credit card, such as a card number, pin number, or security code.
• People who contact you will be fluent in english, both spoken and written, and will not make major grammatical errors.

If at any time you doubt the authenticity of a person contacting you on behalf of Pioneer, stop talking to them and contact us at (208) 587-3304. We can verify if we did contact you and help you with whatever you need.

Why is Pioneer Calling Me?

Scam calls are very common, but also more dangerous than ever. Criminals are getting very clever with their fraud methods, being able to spoof the phone numbers of friends, family, local businesses, and even Pioneer.

If you do get a phone call from Pioneer, be very careful what information you give out. We will never ask for personal information like account numbers, or ask you to confirm your identity using information found on your debit/credit cards.

If you do receive a call from someone claiming to be a Pioneer team member and you are at all suspicious, ask for their name and then hang up and call us back at (208) 587-3304. If the phone call is real, we’ll reconnect you with who you were talking with, and if it was fake, you can let us know and we’ll take extra steps to protect your account. Don’t feel bad about ending the phone call, your security is our top priority.

Is the Email Really From Pioneer?

Scam and spam emails are likely the most common. Around 14.5 billion spam emails are sent every day, so it’s not really a surprise when it hits the inbox. But while you easily ignore most of it, it’s harder to delete the one that looks like it’s from Pioneer, especially when the fraudulent email claims to have “important information.”

Look at the recent scam email a member received and reported to us and compare the highlighted sections to our points below:

Subject Line: pioneer Federal - Amount 4999.99 USD credited

• The subject line of an email would not contain a dollar amount specific to your account
• When referencing our organization, we will use our full name of Pioneer Federal Credit Union at least once with proper capitalization
• We will never refer to our organization as Pioneer Federals (plural)
• We will always refer to our membership as ‘members’ rather than ‘customers’
• We will always use proper symbols when referencing money or a transaction (i.e. $4,999.99)
• We always use American English for spelling words (i.e. unauthorized rather than unauthorised.)
• We typically close an email with “Thank you for your membership and the opportunity to serve you”
• We refer to our internal team as Pioneer team members or Member Service Representatives rather than Customer Service Team.

Again, if you receive a email posing as Pioneer, please report it to us by calling (208) 587-3304.

Stay vigilant with protecting your identity and accounts. As we learn of new fraud tactics and scams targeting Pioneer members, we will do our best to inform you of them as quickly as possible. To get the latest information to stay protected, follow our Facebook page for new updates and sign up for our texting alerts by texting ‘Pioneer’ to (208) 746-6337. Then we can keep you informed and protected as fraud attempts are actively happening.