COLUMBIA, S.C. AllSouth FCU, whose members have been solicited for their account numbers over the past few weeks, filed a civil suit against the unknown perpetrators in an unusual attempt to stem the expanding phishing attacks.
The suit, filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, cites unknown “John Does” and “Jane Does” for defrauding at least 125 credit union members and “directly damaging AllSouth and harming its goodwill and reputation.” Efforts to discover the identities of the perpetrators have so far been unsuccessful, said the credit union, which hopes legal discovery tools available in a civil lawsuit will help them unmask the perpetrators.
The goal of the suit is to thwart an expanding form of Internet fraud aimed at credit union and bank account holders who have received text messages purporting to be from their credit union or bank and advising them to call a phone number to unblock an account. Once calling the number, people are asked to enter their debit or credit card numbers and other personal information such as a Social Security Number. The personal information may then be used by the perpetrators to access the members’ accounts.
In one April 7 message purporting to be from AllSouth and labeled “Alert,” the member was told his/her account access was limited and required a call to a particular phone number to remove the restrictions. AllSouth members received varying messages with the same aim. When calling the number the members were greeted with a verbal message that said “Welcome to AllSouth Federal Credit Union” and asked to key in personal account information. In some cases, the information was used to transfer funds out of a member’s account. At least 125 AllSouth members have revealed their personal information under the scam, according to the suit.
The suit charges the unknown phishers with infringement of the $650 million credit union’s trademark and of violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The credit union is asking the court to order an immediate injunction against the scammers and to award it treble damages under the RICO laws.
