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The Huntsville, Ala.-based Redstone Federal Credit Union said on Tuesday that it has been the victim of a BIN (Bank Identification Number) attack. While it's unclear when the attack began or exactly how many members have been impacted, the credit union stated that it discovered the attack last week.
According to a statement from Redstone ($7.6 billion in assets, 653,211 members), the attack is ongoing. "A small percentage of Redstone's members have been affected. Redstone continues to work to mitigate this threat. We evaluate and adjust our fraud detection tactics daily to try and block fraudsters' continuously changing efforts. Our efforts to stop this fraud is having an impact."
BIN attacks happen when fraudsters use a known BIN to systematically test and generate the remaining numbers of a credit or debit card. A bot is typically programmed by the fraudsters to make small transactions and that makes the fraud difficult to detect.
The Atlanta-based e-commerce and payment-processing company International Payments Processing said recently that the number of BIN attacks have increased dramatically during the pandemic.
"America accounts for 33.6% of worldwide losses, making it the most e-commerce fraud in the world. However, the COVID pandemic worsens this situation since many businesses have to sell their products online and have quickly become targets for fraudsters," the company stated.
Redstone stated that many of the BIN attack amounts were less than $10 per transaction. "Our team is reimbursing affected members as quickly as possible."
The credit union has asked its members to be on alert. "We invite our members to partner with us in this fight by utilizing the debit card tools available through online banking, such as card alerts and card control," Redstone said in a statement.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
