Alerts

2022 Annual Meeting Notice

The Board members serve without compensation. Parties interested in filing nominations by petition are required to adhere to these pertinent Shell Federal Credit Union bylaws:

1. Nominees must be members in good standing and over the age of 18 by the date of the meeting to vote, hold elective  or appointive office or sign nominating petitions.
2. Nominees must submit a petition containing the signatures of no fewer than 500 Shell Federal Credit Union members.
3. Petition samples can be obtained from the Secretary, Sonya Speck, at the Deer Park Branch: (713) 844-1162.
4. Each nominee's petition must have a statement of qualifications and biographical data that includes the member's name, account number, and birth date. Each nominee must also submit a signed statement indicating that he or she is agreeable to nomination and will serve if elected. Noncompliance with these rules may invalidate the petition.
5. The nominating petition must be addressed c/o Secretary of the Board, P.O. Box 578, Deer Park, TX, 77536-0578, and be received by the close of business on January 28, 2022.
6. If no nominations are submitted, the Nominating Committee's selection will be elected by general consent. No nominations will be taken from the floor unless unforeseen circumstances create a vacancy on the ballot.
7. In the event a petition is submitted, upon verification, the Secretary will ensure either a printed ballot or electronic ballot is delivered to all members eligible to vote. The ballot will contain the date the ballot must be received by the Credit Union. The Board of Directors will appoint the Election Tellers. 

Scam Alert - Fraudulent Texts & Calls

Attention Shell Members!

We have received multiple reports of fraudulent text messages and calls to members claiming to be from Shell’s debit card fraud department. They attempt to confirm a transaction that never actually happens, then request personal information. Use extreme caution, and feel free to hang up and call us at (713) 844-1100.

While we do reach out via SMS to confirm fraudulent charges on your Shell FCU debit and credit cards, the text messages are coming from a different number and have a completely different format than what we use. True text message alerts from Shell will come from 91937. Our text alerts also request that you call (888) 918-7313, while the fraudulent ones claim that you will be receiving a call from Shell FCU. As always, if you aren’t sure, call our main number and we would be happy to help.

Some members have been getting calls that show the caller ID as our main number, (713) 844-1100, that are also fraudulent. These scammers are spoofing our number to hide their identities to try to steal your account information. If you ever feel that the caller may not be with Shell FCU, hang up immediately and call us at (713) 844-1100.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you!

Remote Access Scam Alert

Would you let a stranger drive your car? Let a random person off the street into your house? Probably not, right? Make sure you apply the same thinking to your computer. We have seen an increase of members reporting remote access scams (also known as technical support scam), and the victims have lost tens of thousands of dollars. You probably know what "remote access" is, but for those who don't, it's a feature of Windows that enables someone in another location to access your PC via the Internet.

The scam is simple and can occur in a variety of ways ..

• Someone calls you, claiming to be from Amazon, Microsoft, or other well-known company. They claim that you are due a refund, but first they need you to go to your computer so they can “send you” the money. They request remote control of your computer so that they are controlling the mouse and keyboard. After that they have you log in to your Shell FCU Digital Banking. They move money around (or even modify the code of the page, changing what you see). And of course, they “accidentally” gave you a refund that is 100x larger than they meant to. They will then start claiming that they will lose their job, the police are being called, whatever they can come up with to get you to send them the money. Here’s the problem: The money they are showing you is yours. They often move money from savings to checking to make it look like you got a large deposit, when in fact it’s your own money. They usually want you to wire it out, or maybe buy gift cards. And once you do that, the money is gone.
   
• Technical support scammers may call and pretend to be a computer technician from a well-known company. They say they’ve found a problem with your computer. They often ask you to give them remote access to your computer and then pretend to run a diagnostic test. Then they try to make you pay to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. If you get a phone call you didn’t expect from someone who says there’s a problem with your computer, hang up.
   
• Remote Access support scammers may try to lure you with a pop-up window that appears on your computer screen. It might look like an error message from your operating system or antivirus software, and it might use logos from trusted companies or websites. The message in the window warns of a security issue on your computer and tells you to call a phone number to get help.
   
• If someone calls to offer you a refund for tech support services you paid for, it’s likely a fake refund scam. How does the scam work? The caller will ask if you were happy with the services you got. If you say, “No,” they’ll offer you a refund. In another variation, the caller says the company is giving out refunds because it’s going out of business. No matter their story, they’re not giving refunds. They’re trying to steal more of your money. Don’t give them your bank account, credit card or other payment information.

NEVER give someone remote access to your computer. If someone calls claiming to be a representative from a company, hang up on them and call the company’s main phone number.

No one ever needs that kind of access to your personal information. Just like you wouldn’t give your car keys to a stranger who knocked on your door, don’t let these people take your computer for a ride.

Contactless and EMV Payment Security

Contactless and EMV (“chip”) technologies are a giant leap ahead in card security compared to the magnetic stripe. Unlike magnetic strips, they use a cryptographic technology that turns your transaction and card information into a secure code that is only used once. Even if that code was captured, it would have to be decrypted and is only good for the single transaction for which it was generated.

Though contactless cards have the potential to be scanned by a fraudster using a non-contact reader, your name, three-digit security code, PIN, and other information would not be available to them. Contactless payment methods currently also have one of the lowest fraud rates of any type of card transaction.

Visa's Zero Liability Policy guarantees that you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your debit card. You're protected if your Visa debit card is lost, stolen or fraudulently used, online or offline. If you experience unauthorized transactions, notify Shell FCU immediately. For specific restrictions, limitations, investigative and other details, please ask a Shell FCU representative.

Along with this added security, there are multiple layers of fraud prevention built into the debit card system, from the card itself, to the terminal it is inserted in, to the processing network the transaction is sent through. Using real-time analytics and artificial intelligence, your transactions are monitored and stopped instantly if the system detects anomalous payments.

Rest assured, you are protected every step of the way. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you!

References:

Visa - https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/security/how-visa-secures-contactless-payments.html

Shell FCU Contactless Payments Video - https://youtu.be/AfMOfglpjmM

Scam Alert - Online Banking Credentials

We have received multiple reports of members receiving a text message and subsequent call that appear to come from our main number, 713-844-1100, with callers claiming that they are employees who are trying to verify activity on the account. The caller eventually claims to need the member’s username and password for online banking. Once inside online banking they start transferring funds out of the account.

Shell FCU will NEVER request your User ID, Password, or any one-time-PINs needed to log in to online banking. This information is personal to you and we urge you to NEVER share that information with anyone. If you are unsure of the identity of the person on the phone, hang up and call us back at our main number, 713-844-1100. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you!