Full Notification

In an attempt to educate customers and prevent them from becoming a victim of a scam, area financial institutions have asked me to pass this information out. Below is information as it relates to common scams that continue to hit our community. Feel free to share this information with your family, friends and co-workers.

Telephone/Text Messaging/Email Scam

When contacted via telephone, email or text messaging, NEVER give out your personal or financial information. Many scams include notifying someone that their credit or debit card has been compromised or deactivated. Customers will be instructed to call a phone number to resolve the issue. By giving out your information, you have now given a fraudster full access to your account balances. A financial institution will NEVER ask you for your personal identification number (PIN).

Typically these scams are targeted by phone numbers and not a specific financial institution. You may receive a message regarding a financial institution where you do not have any accounts. Many times people receiving the message, and in a panic give out their account information from their own financial institution. By doing so, the fraudster is able to gain access to any funds you have in the account.

Through modern day technology, fraudsters are able to make these scams appear perfectly legitimate. They will use local financial institution names along with phone numbers appearing to be local when in reality they may be tied to a phone line in another state and/or country.

This type of scam typically targets times when financial institutions are closed. Late in the day, weekends and holiday weekends are perfect timing as these fraudsters knowing that the customer will not have the ability to personally contact their financial institution.

Grandparents Scam

Another common scam preys on grandparents who think they are helping their grandchildren who are in distress.

Grandparents have wired money to what they thought was one of their grandchildren for an emergency situation. However, they actually wired money to a con artist outside the U.S. who scammed them out of thousands of dollars.

The grandparents scam works like this – the grandparent receives a frantic telephone call from someone whom they believe is one of their grandchildren. The "grandchild" begins the call with "Grandma, it's me". At this point “Grandma” will say the name of one of her grandchildren who she believes is on the other end of the call. The scammer now has the name of the “grandchild” and pretends to be them. Posing as the “grandchild”, the scammer then explains that they are traveling outside the state or country, typically in Canada and have been arrested or involved in an auto accident, and needs the grandparent to wire them money to post bail, to pay legal fees, to pay for damages, or to pay for medical expenses.

The "grandchild" pleads with the grandparents not to tell his or her parents and asks that they wire thousands of dollars for reasons including posting bail, repairing the grandchild's car, covering lawyer’s fees, or even paying hospital bills for a person the grandchild injured in a car accident. The reason this scam is successful is because it preys on the emotions of older adults who are trying to help their grandchildren. Too often people get caught up in the false sense of urgency and they end up making emotional, instead of logical, decisions.

The key to avoiding this scam is to remain calm despite the ‘emergency’ nature of the call and to verify that there is a real emergency by contacting other family members before wiring money.

DON’T BECOME A VICTIM

IF YOU RECEIVE A CHECK VIA THE MAIL AND CAN ANSWER “YES” TO ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS, YOU MAY BE THE VICTIM OF A SCAM
· Is this check connected to a communication with someone by email/internet?
· Is this check from something sold on the internet?
· Is the amount of this check more than the item’s selling price?
· Have you been instructed to “wire”, “send” or “ship” money?
· Have you been informed that you are the winner of a foreign lottery in a country where you’ve never traveled?
· Is this check related to an inheritance from an “unknown” deceased relative?
· Have you been asked to “mystery” shop?
· Have you been promised pay or commission for facilitating money transfer through your account?

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CASH OR DEPOSIT THE CHECK AS YOU ARE LIABLE IF THE CHECK IS FRAUDULENT OR RETURNED FOR INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.

NOTIFY YOUR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION IMMEDIATELY