MADISON, Wis. — CUNA Mutual is urging continued vigilance about a sophisticated fraud scheme that targets credit unions and large home equity lines of credit.

Fraudsters apparently using public records and other methods have been targeting holders of large HELOCs for several months, using telephone calls, faxes and e-mails.

CUNA Mutual said its staff has issued two e-mail alerts and made nearly 2,700 calls to credit unions about the scheme, and said the effort appears to be paying off.

Gary Pate, director of insurance compliance and risk management at CUNA Mutual, said 43 incidents of actual losses or attempts totaling $8.8 million have been reported to his organization since early January.

One of those included a request that came by fax and phone call for a transfer of $548,000 from a HELOC at $547 million Sierra Central CU in Yuba City, Calif.

A call center supervisor, alerted by the CUNA Mutual warnings, thwarted the attempted fraud, Pate said. He said no losses have been claimed since Feb. 6.

CUNA Mutual also is urging its policyholders to continue to use its RISK Alerts for timely information on fraud attempts and loss control, and to report all fraud attempts and any losses to its Credit Union Protection Response Center at (800) 637-2676.