A member of Randolph-Brooks FCU was aghast one day as she watched an online phishing scheme drain her credit union account of $1,800.
The member, identified as Erica Carpenter, reported checking her account balance online to find several unauthorized charges, but was unable to make phone contact with the credit union until the next day. Every time she refreshed the page, she saw another charge against her account.
Later she found out that her account and several others at the credit union was made available through the Internet payments site PayPal. She said she received an email from a phony site purporting to be PayPal and listing an e-mail address it said had been added to her account, but she clicked on the button indicating she did not authorize it. Carpenter explained she had used PayPal three years ago to buy something off eBay, but hadn't used the service since then. Carpenter said she has been told she will only be responsible for the first $50 of the theft.
