CUNA Mutual Group issued an alert this week regarding a nationwide wave of fraud that originated from home equity lines of credit and requests wire transfers be sent to construction company accounts.

After mortgages are filed and become public record, cybercriminals scraped data from the public documents to learn where members had HELOC accounts from which they can steal, according to the risk alert.

Recent frauds have been conducted by requesting wire transfers be sent to accounts in the name of construction companies to make it look like advances for home improvement projects, CUNA Mutual said.

In some cases, the companies are legitimate and are used as “money mules,” the alert said.

CUNA Mutual said the fraud incidents featured a number of common traits. Fraudsters contacted credit unions directly to change member profile information, including addresses, phone numbers or email accounts.

In some cases, online accounts were taken over entirely, allowing the fraudsters to manipulate members' online banking services. Once this occurred, they changed profile information or transferred funds from the HELOC into a share draft account, reducing the chance that a credit union employee would notice suspicious activity, CUNA Mutual said.

Other signs included wire requests received by fax with accurately forged signatures, which the fraudsters find on the HELOC documents they search out online, the alert said.

In some instances, member phone numbers were call-forwarded by the criminals or callbacks by the credit union were forwarded to the criminals, CUNA Mutual said.

In addition, crooks can build a profile of member information from what they can gather on a member through online sources, which enables the criminal to verify information if asked by a credit union employee.

Instant Insights /

CUNA Mutual Issues HELOC Fraud Alert

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