STCU warns about fraudulent emails seeking business grant information

A scam alert has been issued by Spokane Teachers Credit Union after federal officials warned the lending institution about an online scam targeting businesses that obtained grants from the Payroll Protection Program.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently alerted STCU about fraudulent emails and websites that appear to be coming from the Small Business Administration but are in fact from scammers.

“We have not heard of any STCU business members who have been targeted by the scam, and don’t know how widespread it is,” STCU spokesman Dan Hansen said in an email. “However, like other financial institutions, we’re doing our best to get out the word about this potential threat.”

The purpose of the fraudulent emails is to trick business owners into giving up their PPP loan information, which would put “sensitive data at risk,” according to the federal warning.

“The real SBA will not ask you to log onto SBA.gov with PPP information,” the STCU warning states.

If anyone has received a suspicious email seeking data on PPP loan documents, they are asked to call STCU at (509) 326-1954.