Preventing fraud 101

There are fraudsters out there who, instead of getting real jobs, make a “career” of tricking good people out of their own hard-earned money.

They play with people’s emotions to manipulate them into doing something they may not normally do (such as sharing personal banking information). Commonly, they pretend to be a trustworthy person or business, impersonating a family member or your bank. They will try to take advantage of someone who is low on funds or try to create a sense of urgency.

Just about everyone is at risk. Since you’re likely to come across a scam at some point in time, let’s explore three common scams.

1. Imposter scams

You get a call, email, or text message from someone claiming to be a person you know or trust. They try to scare and threaten you into sending money or giving up your personal account information. They create a false sense of urgency to get you to act quickly without thinking. It’s meant to be upsetting and make you feel pressured.

Here are a few common imposter scams:

• The caller says a family member is sick, arrested, or in other serious trouble, and they need you to make a payment right now to help
• A “court official” says you will be arrested for not paying a fine or missing jury duty
• Your Social Security benefits will be suspended, or they need information because someone is using your number
• It’s the “IRS” and to avoid arrest for taxes owed, you need to send money immediately
• Your “bank” needs your account number or log in information (quick tip: your bank will never call and ask for this)

The possibilities are endless, and they are all red flags.

So how can you protect yourself from an imposter? There’s one word to remember: Stop.

Stop! Take time to think about what the caller is asking and why they need it before giving up any information or money.

Stop! Tell the caller you will look into the matter and get back to them. Any legitimate caller will accept that easily.

Stop! Make a phone call to check into it before accepting what they say as truth. Simply hang up with that person—don’t feel the need to be polite, especially if you say you want to look into it further but they continue to pressure you. If that happens, simply hang up.

Call the company using a phone number from a trusted source, like your account statement or the company’s legitimate website. If the company you call says there is no issue, then you know you did the right thing by investigating. Way to go; you dodged a fraudster!

If the call claimed to be about a family member, call them or someone close to them. Often the safety of the person “in trouble” can be easily verified.

DO NOT call the number that appeared on your caller ID, because that could be the fraudster’s cell phone number.

2. Friendship and sweetheart scams

Friendship and sweetheart scams have victimized many people, unfortunately. These con artists nurture an online relationship to build trust with their victims and then convince the victim to send them money. These relationships can be relatively new or last many months. Often, the friend or “sweetheart” comes up with some reason they are unable to get to their own money, like they are stranded somewhere. Or, they say they need help for a friend or family member. Many of these scammers are outside of the United States. Remember, if it seems fishy, it probably is. And if somebody you’ve only met online (and not in person) is asking you to send them money, that’s fishy. Don’t take the risk.

3. Phishing and smishing

And speaking of “fishy,” phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails, claiming to be from reputable companies. Their goal is to trick individuals into revealing personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Smishing is like phishing, but with text messages.

In both cases, the messages can look like they’re from reputable companies. It may say they noticed some activity, need to confirm your personal or payment information, they’re offering a gift, or want you to register for a refund. A link is “conveniently provided” to click or there is an attachment to open. Attachments and links can install harmful malware. Don’t click suspicious links!

Also, DO NOT provide an authentication or authorization code to anyone else. These codes are meant to protect your log in process and should never be shared with a third party.

Now that we’ve looked at these three ways fraudsters try to steal information from you, let’s talk about how you can fight back.

REPORT IT. First, sharing your story can help your friends, family, and those in your community avoid these scams. Your story can be a helpful way to educate others.

Second, officially reporting fraud to investigators helps them build cases against scammers to stop them.

So where can you report fraud? Fortunately, there are several organizations that help combat fraud. Here’s just a few:

• Federal Trade Commission (fraud reports): https://www.ReportFraud.ftc.gov
• Federal Trade Commission (identity theft reports): https://www.IdentityTheft.gov
• U.S. Postal Inspection Service: https://www.uspis.gov
• The Internet Crime Complaint Center:  www.ic3.gov

At a time when fraudsters are trickier than ever, you can rest assured The Bank of Missouri is committed to helping keep your accounts safe. We will never call you to ask for your personal information. If someone calls saying they’re with The Bank of Missouri, hang up and chat with us or call us at 888-547-6541.

Learn more about additional types of fraud >>