Uncovering the Truth: The Rise of Fraudulent Schemes
We have all seen on the news before people falling victim to scams where hundreds of thousands of dollars have been taken from you by fraudsters. We all always think this will never happen to me, “I live in too small of a town, “I don’t use online banking”, “I don’t shop online” … but the reality is, it can happen to anyone at any given moment. In this blog post I will be giving you some of the best practices, tips, and tricks to avoid the biggest scams we have seen as a credit union this year.
Online Banking Scams/Fraud:
This has been really ramping up since the holiday season is among us. Lots of fraudsters are attempting to access your accounts to get control of your account. Here are some tips on how to recognize that scam and what to do next:
OURCU will never text/email you about a questionable charge or anything related to your account. (even if you signed up for text alerts)
OURCU will never ask you to verify your OTP (one time pin) as a verification question to access your account.
Your online banking credentials are only supposed to be used by you. DO NOT give this information out to anyone. OURCU will never ask you to verify your online banking username or password.
You should not allow remote access to your computer or phone, especially from email.
You should not click on a link in an email unless you have inspected it, and the email is expected.
If a company lists their phone number in the email it is usually preferred to look up their phone number instead of trusting the one in an email.
If you receive a phone call, text, or email like this, don’t be afraid to report this to OURCU. We are here to help you.
Once you allow or give this information to the fraudster, they access your accounts and there are several malicious activities they are trying to do. Most of the time the fraudsters will already know key pieces of information about you or your account including the last four of your SSN, last 4 numbers of your card number, who is on your account, phone number and possibly address information. They will create a sense of urgency and ask if you do these things in secret and quickly. It is always good to stop and slow down and really think about what the situation is.