Be On The Lookout For Scams

Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated and convincing when attempting to get your bank or personal information. Here are a few common scams, what to look out for, and what you can do to remedy if you’ve fallen victim to a scam. 

Common Scams

Prizes/Sweepstakes/Free Gifts – Requesting payment to claim fictitious winnings or gifts. Do not give any information or payment. If you have given personal information, please refer to Identity Theft Resources.

Imposter Scams – Imposter scams come in many varieties but work the same way: a scammer pretends to be someone you trust to convince you to send them money. Learn how to spot an imposter scam.

Tech Support Scams – Tech support scammers want you to believe you have a serious problem with your computer, like a virus. They want you to pay for tech support services you don't need, to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. They often ask you to pay by wiring money, putting money on a gift card, prepaid card, or cash reload card, or using cryptocurrency or a money transfer app because they know those types of payments can be hard to reverse.

Mobile Deposit Scam – Scammers contact their victims through email or social media posing as a potential employer, lender, or interested buyer on a marketplace site. The scammer will often provide the victim an opportunity to earn money quickly by depositing a check to their account or by asking for help in moving money from overseas. The scammer will further request the victim’s bank account information and may even ask for online or mobile banking login credentials.

The scammer uses the information to deposit a fake check. Once the deposit has been made, the scammer will request funds to be immediately transferred back to them via money order, person-to-person transfer, wire transfer, reloadable cards, or even gift cards. Once the victim returns the funds, the bank alerts the victim that the check was fictitious and removes the funds from the account, causing a loss to the victim.

Protect yourself from a Mobile Deposit scam
Never give out your personal information to people you don’t know, alert your bank of any suspicious activity, and before you deposit a check, look for these red flags:

• Typos in names of the payer, payee, bank, and dollar amounts
• Out-of-state payers and out-of-state banks
• Missing or faded bank logos
• Notations in the memo line suggesting legitimacy (cash, authorization, void after 30 days, payment, etc.)

Even if a check has been “cleared,” you may not be in the clear. Under federal law, banks must make deposited funds available quickly, but just because you can withdraw the money doesn’t mean the check is valid, even if it’s a cashier’s check or money order. If you have any questions about whether or not the check is valid, contact the credit union.

Learn more at: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-avoid-scam

What to Do After? And Additional Resources

It may be frustrating or upsetting recognizing when you’ve fallen victim to any scam. However, the sooner you report, the better we can assist you and prevent further losses.

Please Contact Us as soon as possible, and let us know what account or personal information was given. If an online banking credential was given, we may block access to prevent unauthorized changes and ask you to change your password and username.

If account information was given, we may ask to change your account number or membership numbers. Please Contact Us, or visit one our branches.

If personal information was given, such as your social security number, please refer to our Identity Theft Resources.

Report Fraud, Scams, and Bad Business Practices
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

FTC Identity Theft Report
https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/

To guard against these scams, experts say to:

• Don't provide your account number or personal information by email or text
• Don't trust caller ID; Caller ID may be modified to show your financial institution's name
• Don't feel pressured to provide information immediately in response to text, email, or phone requests. Using their published phone number, contact your financial institution to confirm the request is legitimate.
• Don't give information over the phone if you receive a call stating that a transaction is canceled, even if the caller claims to be from your financial institution. Once again, contact your financial institution using a published phone number to inquire about the transaction.
• Don't click on links in unsolicited emails or texts
• Don't give an unsolicited caller remote access to your computer

Remember PremierOne Credit Union will never contact you and ask for your account or confidential information. Do not let fear cloud your judgment when accessing links from emails and social media. Contact us if you have any questions.