Fraud Prevention
If you ever click a link or divulge information to a suspicious caller, contact us immediately on 057 86 22594 or call into any of our offices.
We can respond quickly by securing your account and ensuring that no suspicious activity has been encountered.
Scammers are contacting people purporting to be from the Credit Union. Please be extra vigilant with all text messages, calls, and emails you receive.
A scam text, purporting to be from 'Credit Union', claiming that accounts have been 'placed on hold' and asking the recipient to click a link (to a cloned credit union website) to verify their account.
PFCU will never ask you to click a link in a text message or email to verify your account. If you have any doubts as to the authenticity of a text message, call our office on 057 86 22594.
With this scam, the scammer cloned the credit union website and requests that the member provides details and app activation codes. The member was then contacted by the scammer.
We will NEVER contact you by text or email asking you to verify your account. We will NEVER send you a link requesting you to enter information.
You should only enter information if you are sure that the website is https://www.peoplefirstcu.ie or you are using our official app downloaded from your App Store.
If you already hold an account, we will never ask for PPSN, debit card details, or any other highly sensitive information to verify your identity online.
A common technique for scammers is to use a link that looks very similar to the actual website but may be slightly misspelled (e.g. peoplesfirstcu.com, note the s and .com)
Have a look at our tips for preventing fraud on your account and what to look out for with these scams.
Phone Calls
057 86 22594 is our main phone line.
Our staff will never call you asking to provide your online banking PIN or authentication codes.
Some of our staff have their own dedicated phone lines which you may receive a call from.
If you are unsure about the authenticity of a phone number or phone call, call us on our main line 057 86 22594 and we can confirm whether or not the call you received is genuine.
If you are not expecting a call from us, we may still be required to call you regarding important matters on your account.
The only information we will ask for over the phone on these outgoing calls are basic security questions [Date of Birth, Member Number, Address etc.] and other basic account information.
We will NEVER call you asking for your PPSN, authentication codes or ask you to visit any links other than our website www.peoplefirstcu.ie
If you are expecting a call from us [e.g. loan applications, memberships etc.], we may discuss further details with you.
However, even if you are expecting a call from us and are still unsure about the authenticity of the call, hang up and call our office on 057 86 22594.
Text Messages and Emails
We use text messages and email to communicate with our members about requested services only.
We will NEVER send you an unsolicited link by text message or email. Do not click on a link in any text message purporting to be from the credit union.
We may send you a text message to call our office if we could not reach you by phone, our office phone line is 057 86 22594.
If you receive a text message asking you to phone a suspicious phone number, purporting to be from the credit union, please call us and we can confirm whether or not the text message is genuine.
If you use online banking, you may receive SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) codes by text message.
YOU WILL ONLY RECEIVE THESE MESSAGES WHEN YOU REQUEST THEM.
These messages are a security feature to ensure it is only you accessing your online banking and they will only be sent when you are attempting to access online banking features.
These text messages will always only contain a 6 digit security code, they will never contain a "verification link" and they will never ask you to enter the code on any website or app other than www.peoplefirstcu.ie
If you receive any suspicious text, please inform us immediately.
