ALEXANDRIA, Va. (10/8/10)—Credit unions should be wary of e-mails that claim to be from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) and promise their recipients $50 for taking an NCUA-created survey, the NCUA said Thursday.

According to the agency, the survey link directs members to a false version of the NCUA homepage. That site contains “an illicit survey that solicits credit card account numbers and confidential personal information” from survey respondents.

In a release, the NCUA warned that the site is a phishing scam, adding that the agency “will never ask credit union members or the general public for personal account or personally identifiable information as part of a survey.”

“Any e-mail that alleges to be from NCUA and asks for account information is fraudulent and should be treated as suspicious,” NCUA added.

NCUA has advised that those who may have clicked on the link “consult with a computer security or anti-virus specialist to assess the need to re-install a clean image of the computer system.” Generally, credit unions should encourage their members to execute simple antivirus scans, install security patches as needed, and use caution in general when online.