Beware of scams! Here's some of the latest: A new phishing scheme that uses a "call forwarding" component enables "phishers"  to portray themselves as the victim when a financial institution calls to verify a bank transaction. The phishing scheme asks members, via e-mail, to verify their phone number immediately with the financial institution. If they do not confirm their phone number, their account will be suspended. The phisher's instructions are: Step 1: Go to your phone and dial *72; Step 2: Dial 707-531-4910 (XYZ Bank secure line); and Step 3: Your phone is confirmed. You will receive a call from us in one hour for final verification. If you have confirmed your phone, you can continue the update process. By inputting these numbers, victims actually forward their calls to the phisher's redirect number. This will go on until the victims notice they aren't getting any verification calls. Victims may also get a call from the phisher or an answering machine posing as their financial institution to query any transaction in that period. After they confirm the phone number, the caller asks them to update their personal information, including Social Security, bank account and credit card numbers. ALWAYS REMEMBER: Never call the number you receive from a spam email. Call the phone number of the credit union you usually use. Maine Family will not solicit personal information via email or over the phone. Do not answer emails that request account information. Please report any fraudulent activity to the credit union at 783-2071.  To learn how to protect yourself from scams and to protect your identity, click here for an information brochure. Also www.onguardonline.gov provides good information on how to monitor your credit history, use effective passwords and recover from identity theft. For additional information, Liberty Checks provides a great website for fraud protection. IRS scams In an attempt to catch people off guard, crooks are posing as IRS agents and hoping callers will hand over enough personal information—Social Security number, date of birth, and so on--so the crook can commit identity theft. It's an effective scam, especially for people who fear an audit. And older people are particularly susceptible because they're more trusting. What should you do if you get a call from someone who claims to be from the IRS? Be suspicious from the get-go. Remember that the IRS almost never calls taxpayers and never asks for credit card numbers, financial account numbers, or personal identification numbers over the phone. Ask for the agent's name. Then hang up and call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to confirm that the caller is an IRS employee. Don't use any other phone number that the caller gives you--it's probably a fake. Report the call to the Treasury inspector general's fraud-referral hot line at 800-366-4484.Beware of scams! Now there's vishing! Has your card really been compromised? In a new twist, identity thieves are sending spam that warns victims that their credit union account or other bank accounts were supposedly compromised. However, unlike typical phishing emails, there is no website address in these messages. Instead, the victim is urged to call a phone number to verify account details.   The automated voice message says: "Welcome to account verification. Please type your 16-digit card number." The goal is to get the member to enter their credit card number. In these reported scams, no mention of the credit union is made.   Security expects tracking this scam and other instances of "vishing," short for voice phishing, say the frauds are particularly despicable because they imitate the legitimate ways people interact with financial institutions. Vishing attacks often come from out of the blue and may already know your credit card number. They are asking for the three-digit security code on the back of the card.