“‘Ransomware Attack’ on Patelco Credit Union, Members Locked Out of Accounts”
Dear DailyClout,
On June 29, 2024 about 500,000 Patelco Credit Union members could not log into their accounts. At the time, the only update was on the https://x.com/
Over the course of the week, Patelco Credit Union Members have received emails from the President and CEO, Erin Mendez, updating them. The “outage” upgraded to a “cyber breach” which was then upgraded to a “ransomware attack.”
As of July 8, 2024 and Patelco Credit Union Members still have not been able to log into their accounts. Over the last week they have discovered that they can use ATM machines to access cash and their automatic bill pays and debit card purchases have been honored. When Members walk into Bay Area branches the tellers and customer service people cannot access Members accounts and can’t give them their balances or transaction history.
When some Members attempt to open up new checking accounts at other credit unions, for example, Golden One Credit Union, they are swiftly shown the door and in some cases told “We do not work with Patelco members.”
After extraordinarily long wait times, Members are finding that after speaking to branch and phone representatives that there is no access to account information. This, along with not being able to access account balances online feels as if Members are experiencing a complete lockout. Since June 29 all 500,000 Members have been operating in the dark. Their balances and transaction history of their Patelco Credit Union accounts remain a mystery.
As far as direct deposits, Members were originally told direct deposits should be routed elsewhere until the breach is patched and until cybersecurity experts could determine the breadth of the situation. However, when Members ask their depositors (in most cases a depositor is a Member’s employer) if their direct deposits were denied by Patelco Credit Union and returned to the depositor, they discover that in fact their direct deposits have not been returned to the depositor so Members are led to believe their direct deposits are actually going through to Patelco directly. What’s frustrating is this cannot be confirmed.
When Members reach out to the NCUA (The National Credit Union Administration is the equivalent of the FDIC and insures credit union members accounts up to $250,000) to seek some kind of assurances that their deposits and assets are secure, the NCUA either refuses to speak to them, puts them on hold for long periods of time, sends them to voicemail, tells Members to send an email or redirects them to another agency, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, the DFPI.
Although my husband and I are no longer living in California we have been affected by this ongoing lockout since we both maintain our Patelco Credit Union accounts and can access our accounts via an out of state share-branch option. My husband has been a Patelco Credit Union Member since 1992 and has never experienced anything like this before. We believe this particular circumstance might be a trial balloon for future financial institutions, especially smaller ones like credit unions or community banks. We are skeptical that there was a ransomware attack on Patelco Credit Union based on their lack of transparency and the fact that there are still services available on the back end. We believe Patelco Credit Union is using this language as an excuse to render a reset of their internal system, so to speak. We believe they will shut down operations, but allow members to reopen new accounts with new account numbers and new debit card numbers under new security protocols. We feel this will be something similar to what we saw with the reopening of the country after the initial Covid scare. For example, “We can open the country back up, but you just need to wear a mask or show proof of a negative covid test.”
We believe this is part of the ongoing new normal and that Patelco Credit Union is being used as the trial balloon for successful resets of other financial institutions in the near future.
As of July 15, 2024 Patelco has now allowed their Members to log back into their accounts and see their transactions. Patelco has offered no explanation or insight into the breach nor have they even given the name of the cyber firm that investigated the breach. The credit union, which has been operating since 1936, is facing at least half a dozen class action lawsuits as a result of locking all of their Members out of their accounts for two weeks. Patelco Members are finding irregularities in their accounts, such as double payments to mortgages, missing money, fees and various other charges they don’t recognize. Most Members have said as a result of this financial fiasco this has presented in their lives, they are moving to either a Too Big To Fail Bank or another credit union.
Sincerely,
Julie Collins
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