An off-shore e-mail scam looking like a credible service from an Ann Arbor, Mich., financial institution has made its way to Wisconsin.

In response to a Kenosha News reporter who received the phony e-mail, Mary Cole, member service loan officer for Community Driven Credit Union, said she wasn’t aware the scam had spread this far. Cole said nearly all calls to the credit union early last week were triggered by the bogus e-mails

The messages ask recipients to “review” their Visa statements by entering their credit card account number and four-digit personal identification number.

“We are aware of the scam,” Cole said. “It looks official. It looks like ours. I don’t know how they’re getting on our Web site. Prior to that it was texts on cell phones. The texting started last month. It really hit us hard at the beginning (of November),” Cole said.

Kenosha Police Department Detective James Kendall advises “buyer beware” when it comes to suspicious e-mails, phone calls, text messages or other contacts seeking personal identification.

“There is no free lunch. It’s about opening the gate..... These guys typically use Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and other public sites with free credit card accounts,” Kendall said. “Being in the fraud unit you know what to do to protect yourself. But you still can’t completely shelter yourself from exposure to it.”

He said “phishing” scams like the one mimicking CDCU can be the most difficult to track.

“Those are the tricky ones because people believe what they’re looking at. These guys are getting pretty tricky at making these things look real,” Kendall said. “Anytime somebody is being solicited, be suspicious of it if you haven’t sought it out yourself.”

The Michigan attorney general has been alerted by CDCU to the e-mail scam, as have police in Ann Arbor and Texas, where people were getting the messages by text on cell phones, Cole said.

“We stress to our members and nonmembers who call that this is a scam. We’re telling members not to give out their information at all. We don’t text, e-mail or contact members by phone for that information,” she added.

Cole said at least one unsuspecting member had $1,000 withdrawn from her account within hours of providing the information requested. She noted similar scams have hit banks and other credit unions.

She urged recipients not to respond and instead to visit the CDCU home page, www.cudrive.org, which provides a “Scam Alert” link regarding fraudulent communications.

Meanwhile, she said whoever is behind the scam remained unknown.

“As soon as we’re closing ’em down, they’re opening new ones. Most of the messages, I think, are coming from outside the country,” Cole said.