Eileen's Close Call Shows The Importance of Scam Awareness

Agent O.T.T.O is back with a brand-new edition! This month’s focus is on Eileen who ALMOST fell for a scam. Eileen has been a long-time member but never one that was big on using all the latest technologies. However, Eileen trusted OURCU and always reaches out anytime that she is unsure.

About a month ago, Eileen got a call from someone claiming to be from OURCU’s fraud department and was told that she had a pending charge in her account that they were needing to verify with her. However, this time when Eileen was speaking with them, something felt off but she couldn’t put her finger on it. As the “representative” on the other line began to tell her that she needed to hurry and provide her card information to them before the fraudsters continued to charge her account.

Eileen was confused and asked “isn’t that what you guys normally do? That’s always how you’ve helped me before”. The scammer quickly backtracked and tried to recover, “We’ve had a recent change in our policies”; and again, Eileen responded “Well why haven’t I heard about it? Can you show me where on your website that you’ve had a policy change?”. The scammer stated that it had not been added yet and that she must have missed the announcement of the policy change. He sounded so convincing…. But Eileen couldn’t shake that feeling of something being wrong.

Eileen told the scammer “You guys always tell me that if I’m ever unsure about whether I’m talking to a scammer or not I should always be on the safe side, hang up and call a number I know that I can trust.” So Eileen trusted her gut and immediately hung up the phone, then reached out to OURCU contact center. Where an employee was able to confirm for her that her intuition was correct! They were not a part of the OURCU Fraud team.

Way to go Eileen! Her decision to not only educated herself about fraudsters but also to trust her gut, led to her keeping her money and account safe! And on that note we’d like to share some tips for you to be able to do the same! Here are a few that we feel are important for you to follow, however we encourage you to continue to expand your knowledge to better protect yourself.

Agent O.T.T.O’s tip: S.T.O.P.

S- Slow Down: A scammer’s goal is to put you in a position of worry/need to rush. By creating this feeling in a person, they can get you into a state of panic which can affect your ability to process information in the same objective manner. If needed, take a second to gather yourself.

T- Trust your gut: Always trust your gut, ask questions, and take time to think things through. Ask yourself… Does this make sense? Would it make sense that a police officer would send you a letter/email/text instead of coming to your door if you are “supposedly” suspected of a crime.

O- Open links cautiously: This includes unknown texts, emails, websites or applications! Again, if you don’t know if a clickable link is safe or not, it’s always better to NOT click until you verify legitimacy (Especially if you are not expecting said email, text, etc.).

P- Proceed with Caution: ALWAYS make sure that you are getting your information from a reliable source. It is better to take your time and confirm that what you are being told is valid instead of accidentally giving away your money or information.

The more time you invest in being aware of scams, the more prepared you’ll be to protect your hard-earned funds. This simple S.T.O.P. method is a great tool to help you when you are unsure. REMEMBER! WHEN IN DOUBT REACH OUT!

Agent O.T.T.O signing off until the next adventure!