Month: October 2020

Nine ways to protect yourself from fraud

22nd October 2020

Fraud can happen to anyone. With the rise of fraud cases, we thought we would share some information about fraud and how to protect yourself from falling victim.

How to identify a fraudster:

  • They try to gain trust by claiming to be from a well-known business or impersonate a known contact
  • Will suggest their own verification procedures, including redirecting you to websites they have created or calling numbers they provide to you
  • Know how to tap into your emotions to get what they want
  • Create a sense of urgency to get you to make hasty decisions without much thought.

9 ways to protect yourself from fraud and theft:

  1. Don’t click on any links in an email or text that you think is suspicious. If it’s a trusted financial institution, always type the name of that institution into the address bar of your browser or log into your financial provider’s app to check for any messages that may have come through
  2. Fraudsters try to create a sense of urgency within the message for example: “Your account has been suspended and requires verification. Please follow the link now. http://verifycreditunion.co.uk.”
    Don’t rush – take your time and think about what the message is telling you to do and consider whether it’s real. If you are still not sure, get in touch with the person/business who contacted you to find out if there were any issues. Sometimes they may not be aware of the situation and could have been a victim of fraud as well
  3. Memorise your security details and securely destroy anything that contains these details, once you’ve memorised them
  4. Always set or change your security details to something that can’t be guessed easily
  5. Never write down or record your security details
  6. Never allow anyone else to use your security details
  7. Always monitor your accounts and see if there are any unusual transactions or activity that you don’t recognise
  8. Inform us straight away if you suspect or discover that someone has your security details, your information has been misused, or in doubt of communication received from us. Please get in touch with us by calling our customer experience team on 020 8756 3868 or email office@hertsavers.co.uk
  9. If someone gets you to share your sensitive details via suspicious communication, such as usernames, passwords or account details you can report it to the police.

Be safe with us

At Hertsavers Credit Union, we would like to reassure you that your data is safe with us. Here are some of the ways that we do this:

• We are constantly upgrading our fraud protection software and changing our operation to make your details secure from fraudsters
• We now use R Post for electronic signatures that are fully safe and protected
• We have security checks for ID, physical and email address as well as mobile phone numbers.

Example of how we handled a fraud case
Recently, one of our members had their email account hacked and the hacker tried to order an expensive watch using credit union funds. Fortunately, due to our safe and secure systems in place, they didn’t get anything and were reported to the police.

If you suspect unusual activity to your Hertsavers account or receive suspicious communication, please get in touch with us on 020 8756 3868 or email office@hertsavers.co.uk.

Healthy Start Vouchers scheme – are you eligible?

Image source: Healthy Start

Did you know that there are over 5,000 Hertfordshire families who are missing out on £100s of food and milk vouchers?

According to the latest NHS figures, there are 8,700 Hertfordshire families who should be getting Healthy Start Vouchers and less than 3,400 are.

If you are at least 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under four years old you could be entitled to Healthy Start Vouchers worth £3.10 per child per week, to spend on milk, plain fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, and instant formula milk. You can also use them to buy pulses and canned fruit and vegetable as long as they have no fat, salt, sugar or other flavouring added. The vouchers can be redeemed at local retailers.

If you are entitled to Healthy Start Vouchers you will also get free vitamins designed to help pregnant and breastfeeding women and growing children.

Pregnant women and every child over one and under four years old can get one voucher every week. Children under one year old can get £6.20 per week.

To be eligible you should be in receipt of certain means-tested benefits. Check your eligibility here.

For example, a parent with a new baby and a three-year-old could get vouchers worth almost £500 a year.

You can still receive the vouchers if you live with your partner and they receive one of these benefits or you are the dependent child of someone who receives them. If you are pregnant and under 18, you do not have to be in receipt of any benefits to qualify.

Take-up of the vouchers is very low, around 40 percent, so check you are entitled as soon as possible to prevent missing out. You can pick up an application leaflet at your GP’s or baby clinic. Alternatively, you can phone for a form on 0345 607 6823 or download and print one here.

Due to COVID19 restrictions, the form does not need to be signed by a health professional.

You can also use the benefit-checker on the County Council’s website, and access free information about benefits that you might be missing out on. www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/benefits

You can get more information about Health Start on their website.