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  Geebo 9:00 am on December 26, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, impostor scam ( 16 ), Scams ( 1,405 ), USAA, veterans ( 8 )   

  A fusion of bank scams target veteran’s widow 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We hope all our readers had a safe, joyous, and scam-free Christmas. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your gift card balances before using them.

  Over the past year, we’ve seen several new ways in which scammers have lured their victims into a financial trap. None has been more disturbing than scams that target the families who have recently lost a loved one. Scammers scan the obituaries looking for victims who may not be thinking clearly since they’re grieving. At best, you have a scammer posing as the funeral home trying to squeeze money out of you, at worst you have a real estate scammer trying to steal a family’s home with a phony deed scam. Now, we’re seeing scammers using the obituaries to gain access to the bank accounts of those in mourning.

  Back in November, a US Army Veteran who had been awarded the Purple Heart passed away. According to his widow, a week after the soldier’s memorial, she was targeted in a bank scam. The scammers posed as USAA, a bank whose customer base is largely members of the military, veterans, and their families. Like most bank scams these days, the soldier’s widow received a text message that appeared to come from USAA warning her of fraudulent activity on her account.

  The text message included a customer service number to call, but the number didn’t go to USAA. Instead, it went to a scammer call center impersonating USAA. According to the victim, the scammers even used USAA’s customized hold music while she was on the phone with the scammers.

  The victim was talked into giving the scammers enough personal information where the scammers gained access to her bank account. At this point, scammers typically drain the account of its funds. However, this time, the scammers took the scam even further. A phony check was deposited into the account for $4500. Before the check was discovered to be fraudulent, the scammers withdrew not only the $4500 from the phony check, but the remaining funds in the account as well.

  The victim reported the scam to the police and USAA, but the bank initially denied her claim for a refund, stating they determined the transactions were not fraudulent. That was until she went to a local TV news station with her story. After the news station got involved, USAA returned the lost money to her.

  If you receive a text message from your bank about any questionable activity on your account, stop for a moment. Do not call any number included in the text message or click any links the message may contain. Instead, call your bank directly at the customer service number listed on the back of your bank card.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 26, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 73 ), fraud department, impersonation scam ( 153 ), Scams ( 1,405 )   

  Elaborate bank scam wipes out life savings 

  

  By Greg Collier

  One of the more common scams lately is the bank impersonation scam. This scam can start out with either a text message or a phone call. In either case, the scammers are posing as your bank’s fraud department. They tell you that there’s been fraudulent activity on your account, or your account has been hacked. You’re then instructed you need to move your money to protect it. This typically results in the scammers having you send them your entire bank account through electronic means like payment apps or cryptocurrency, or through more manual means like gift cards or wire transfers. Usually, these scams take less than a day to occur and sometimes can happen in just minutes. However, one bank scam strung a victim along for a month.

  A woman from Wisconsin lost her life savings of $200,000 to scammers like this. They initially made contact with their victim by posing as Wells Fargo’s fraud department. They called her and told her that her identity had been stolen. The victim even says there were unusual transactions she didn’t recognize on her bank account.

  Then she was transferred to someone who claimed to be a federal agent for the Federal Trade Commission. That person had a lot of personal information about the victim, including her Social Security number, former addresses, and where the victim attended college. They even sent her copies of the supposed agent’s badge and ID card.

  The scammers told the victim to close all of her financial accounts in order to open new accounts with a new Social Security number. Or in other words, they wanted her to move her money. The victim sent the scammers her money through money transfers, gift cards, and cryptocurrency. All the while, they were sending her certified letters that appeared to come from an attorney, which lent legitimacy to the scam.

  Another tactic scammers like this use is threatening their victim with arrest, which was also done here. The scammers told the woman if she didn’t comply, she would be arrested for money laundering.

  As always with scams like this, if you receive a call from your bank about fraudulent activity or identity theft, hang up. Then manually call the bank at their correct customer service number, which can be found on their website or on the back of your debit card.

  It’s also recommended if you receive a phone call like this to reach out to family and friends to get their feedback.

  Also, please keep in mind that if your identity is stolen or your bank account is hacked, no one is going to call you. To the banks, they consider it the customer’s responsibility to report any unauthorized transactions. And moving your money, or paying yourself to protect it is not a real procedure.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 23, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 73 ), impersonation scam ( 153 ), robocalls ( 8 ), Scams ( 1,405 )   

  Like we need another bank scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’re pretty sure it goes without saying that bank customers are one of the largest targets of scammers. If we’re not being assailed by text messages telling us to protect hacked accounts through Zelle, our debit card information is being stolen through skimmers, or people are trying to get us to deposit phony checks. Now, bank scammers are pulling an old scheme which seems almost antiquated by today’s standards.

  According to a report out of Florida, several residents have received robocalls from scammers posing as banks. And we say banks, we mean a few different banks. At one point, a potential victim could receive a robocall that says it’s from Bank of America, while getting one shortly later that says they’re from Wells Fargo. However, both robocalls say the same thing.

  The robocalls will tell you a purchase you made with your debit card has been declined, and your card has been blocked. The message also provides a customer service number for the recipient to call. The customer service number leads to a scam call center, where the scammers will attempt to obtain not only your financial information but, possibly, your money as well.

  If you were to get one of these robocalls, and it says it’s from Bank of America, and you actually bank at Bank of America, that’s a coincidence. That also goes for most of the major banks. Scammers will set out the widest net possible in order to catch as many potential victims as they can.

  If you receive one of these robocalls, do not call the number they leave. Instead, call your bank’s customer service number from the back of your debit card. If you were to call the scammers’ number, they would only need a little bit of information or a touch of misdirection before they could empty your account and disappear into the wind.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 5, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 73 ), refund scam ( 7 ), Scams ( 1,405 ), Zelle ( 67 )   

  Zelle refunding scam victims, but won’t say which ones 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The Zelle payment app has been popular with scammers for the past year and a half now. If you’re unfamiliar with the app, it’s a personal payment app. It’s supposed to allow you to make payments to friends and family instantly. However, scammers have used it to have their victims direct money to scammers’ bank accounts. Zelle is owned by a group of some of the nation’s leading banks, and in the past, these banks have been hesitant to refund scam victims. Now, Zelle is seemingly saying they’re going to be refusing scam victims, but are being vague about the details.

  But first, let’s look into how Zelle scams work. The most prolific of these scams is the bank impersonation scam. In this fraudulent scheme, the target receives a text message inquiring whether they have recently made a substantial purchase or transfer. The recipient is instructed to reply with a simple yes or no. After the response, scammers follow up with a phone call, pretending to represent the victim’s bank’s fraud department. The fraudsters then urge the victim to safeguard their bank account by either transferring their funds or using Zelle to “pay themselves.” However, what actually happens is that the scammers are guiding the victim through the process of transferring funds to them via Zelle.

  Zelle can also be used in almost any scam where money is involved, such as phony landlords, and scammers who pose as police threatening victims with arrest. A good rule to follow to protect yourself from these scam is to only use it to send money to someone you know personally. Even then, you should make sure that person requested money from you.

  Getting back to the refunds, Zelle’s parent company recently released a statement saying they were going to, “mandate consumer reimbursement for certain types of scams.” But that’s basically all the information they’ve released. Now, it’s understandable that Zelle would want to keep the details quiet to keep scammers from finding out, but once refunds start happening, people are going to know. We believe that Zelle should be more transparent to keep its users and scam victims better informed. To keep the process secret, it seems like Zelle has something to hide.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on March 7, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 2FA ( 12 ), bank fraud, phone scam ( 46 ), Scams ( 1,405 ), sim swapping ( 9 ), two factor authentication ( 18 )   

  Thousands lost in SIM-swapping attack 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If you own a smartphone, how lost would you be without it? We’re not talking about losing your phone in the couch cushions. We mean, how much would your personal life be at risk if your phone was stolen. For many, their smartphone is the only device they need to conduct their lives. For even more, their entire lives are contained in their smartphone. Bank accounts, email, family photos, and schedules are just a few of things that could be accessed through a stolen smartphone. Now, what if we told you that you can lose all these things from your phone without physically losing the device?

  SIM-swapping is a type of cybercrime where an attacker takes control of a victim’s mobile phone number by tricking the victim’s mobile carrier into transferring the number to a new SIM card. Once the attacker has control of the phone number, they can use it to access the victim’s online accounts, such as email, social media, and financial accounts, which often rely on text messaging for two-factor authentication. Then the attacker can not only access your accounts, but they can lock you out of them as well.

  Recently, a man from Colorado lost $24,500 out of his savings account after his phone received a SIM-swapping attack. The victim received an email from his bank that a large transfer was being made, but by the time he was able to contact his bank, the transfer had already gone through. You can almost imagine the shock on his face when he tried to call his bank, only to find out his phone had no service.

  There are several effective ways to protect yourself from SIM-swapping. One is to use an authenticator app instead of relying on text messages for two-factor authentication. Authenticator apps are linked to a device instead of a phone number, making them more secure. Additionally, it’s important to avoid using accurate information for security questions on online accounts, such as high school mascots or pet names, as this information can often be found on social media. Lastly, you can contact your carrier and request that they disallow any device switches on your account, but keep in mind that to unfreeze your account, you may need to visit a carrier store and present identification.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on January 13, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 73 ), Chase ( 14 ), customer service ( 51 ), customer support ( 23 ), JPMorgan Chase, Scams ( 1,405 )   

  Bank accuses customer of being scammer 

  

  By Greg Collier

  A man from Spokane, Washington had been running a one-man business making out of his home making skis and snowboards. However, his business recently took a financial hit after the man fell victim to what sounds suspiciously like a Zelle scam.

  He received a text message that appeared to come from his bank, JPMorgan Chase. The text message stated that someone was trying to withdraw a large amount from his bank account and asked if it was him. The man responded no to the text and received another text that said someone from Chase Bank will call you.

  The call appeared on the man’s caller ID as Chase Manhattan Bank. The man was told by the caller that he would need to fill out to keep his money in his account. The man was directed to open his Chase Bank app and was walked through several steps until a form popped up. The man agreed to the form, and before he knew it, scammers had transferred $29,000 out of his account to a couple of banks in Florida.

  We can’t say for sure that this was a Zelle scam, but most Zelle scams start out the same way, with scammers posing as the victim’s bank. Coincidentally, JPMorgan Chase is part owner of Zelle’s parent company Early Warning Services, along with several other major banks.

  And Chase is said to have reacted similarly to when a customer of any bank is scammed through Zelle. Actually, according to the victim, Chase went beyond just denying the man a refund. According to him, the bank accused him of being the actual scammer. His local branch manager allegedly accused the man of setting up the scam with the man’s buddies, so they could make a claim on the lost money.

  Victims of similar scams are usually told since they authorized the transfer of funds, even under false pretenses, they would not be eligible for a refund. But to be accused by your bank that you’re trying to scam them is just reprehensible. The man had no choice at this point to go to his local media to try to get some form of recompense. After such an accusation, one might think that legal proceedings will begin at some point against Chase.

  Even though you may have been using the same bank for however many years, they are not your friend. Their main goal is to be profitable, even if that means losing a loyal customer now and again. To put it bluntly, they’re looking after themselves.

  To best protect yourself from this scam is to not respond to any text messages that claim to be from your bank or any other financial institution. If you do receive one of these texts, call your bank directly at their customer service number from their website or the back of your debit or credit card.

  Scam victims sue bank for failing to protect accounts | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on December 14, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 73 ), check washing ( 17 ), Detroit ( 4 ), Scams ( 1,405 )   

  Even businesses should watch out for check washing 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Writing personal checks has largely become a relic of the past. However, there are still enough people writing checks that check washing has been rampant lately. Check washing is when a check is stolen either from a home’s mailbox or a postal mailbox. The check is then dipped in a chemical solution which removes the ink. The thieves can then rewrite the check for any amount they want as long as the funds are available. This has largely affected older consumers, who still send checks through the mail.

  However, even though check writing has fallen in popularity with consumers, it’s still a common practice by businesses. If businesses need to pay their vendors, it is still often done by check. This can make them a prime target for check washing.

  For example, a woman from Detroit is a member of her condo’s board association. She wrote a check for $525 to a vendor and mailed the check at a mailbox outside the Post Office. A thief had fished the envelope containing the check out of the mailbox. The check was washed and rewritten for $18,000 before being cashed in New York. To make matters worse, the board’s bank is allegedly dragging their feet in helping them get their money back.

  Much like for consumers, the warning for businesses are largely the same. If you’re still using handwritten checks, there are special pens you can purchase that are resistant to check washing. Some experts say that gel pens and fountain pens are resistant to the check washing process.

  Also, if your business isn’t large enough to have your mail picked up securely by USPS, go inside your local post office to have the checks mailed. Outdoor mailboxes have become vulnerable to thieves in recent years. Check washing has become such a problem, experts say that $1 billion was lost to the scam last year alone.

   
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  Geebo 9:00 am on November 8, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, Chime ( 2 ), customer service ( 51 ), online banking, Scams ( 1,405 )   

  Online-only banks vulnerable to familiar scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Online-only banks can be a boon to many. They give those who are underserved by traditional banks a place to safely keep their money. They can be a great tool for those in lower-income households, or those in rural areas who don’t live close enough to a traditional bank. Unfortunately, these banks and more importantly their customers, are still vulnerable to a scam that’s been mostly affecting traditional bank customers.

  Chime is an online-only bank that many people use. They offer lower fees than traditional banks, and customers’ money is still insured by the FDIC. Recently, a Chime customer received a phone call from someone claiming to be a Chime representative. They told her that there was possible fraudulent activity on her account. She was then given instructions on how to protect her money from being stolen from her account. In actuality, the representative was a scammer who was directing her money to a scammer’s account. The scammer ended up taking $1400 of the customer’s money, her entire paycheck.

  If this sounds a lot like the Zelle scam, you’d be correct in thinking so. While Chime does not use Zelle, it does have its own platform for sending money to friends and family. This can be exploited in the same way that Zelle has been in the past year or so.

  In this instance, Chime seems to act more like a traditional bank, as they refused to refund the victim her money. Many of the banks that use Zelle have refused refunds to victims, stating that since the victim initiated the transaction, even under false pretenses, they’re not eligible for refunds.

  Whether the bank is traditional or not, if someone calls you and tells you that you need to move your money to another account to protect it, they’re scamming you. If you receive one of these calls, hang up and call your bank at their customer service number listed on their website, or your debit card.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on September 23, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: authorization code ( 7 ), bank fraud, bank scam ( 73 ), Scams ( 1,405 ), security code, Zelle ( 67 )   

  Man loses $7500 in new Zelle scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Next month, it will be a year since we started posting about Zelle scams. In that time, it doesn’t seem like much has been done on Zelle’s side to protect its users from scams. However, the scammers seem to have adapted the Zelle scam to continue stealing from their victims.

  For those who may be new readers, Zelle is a personal payment app that’s co-owned by some of the country’s biggest banks. It’s a competitor to apps like Venmo and Cash App. Zelle us only supposed to be used between family and friends and is not intended to be used for business purposes.

  In the previous version of the scam, scammers would send victims a text message posing as their bank’s fraud department. The text asks the victim if they recently made a large purchase and text back either yes or no. Once the victim texts back, that lets the scammers know that there is someone at that phone number.

  That text message is then followed up with a phone call to the victim. Still posing as the bank’s fraud department, the scammers tell the victim that their bank account has been compromised. The victim is then told that in order to protect the money in their account, the money needs to be ‘moved’. Instructions are given to the victim on how to move the money, but what’s really happening is the scammers are walking the victim through a procedure where their money is given to the scammers through Zelle.

  In the new Zelle scam, instead of walking the victim through instructions on transferring the money through Zelle, the scammers are now hijacking the victim’s Zelle account. The scammers do this by asking the victim for a security code that the scammers say they need for security purposes. What the scammers are actually doing is triggering a password rest on the victim’s Zelle account. The security code is needed to complete the password change. Giving the security code to scammers is essentially handing over your Zelle account to them.

  This recently happened to a man in Arizona who received an email about a fraudulent charge. When he called the number on the email to dispute the charge, he was told to pay himself the charge amount through Zelle to reverse the fraudulent charge. However, the ‘bank’ needed the security code to complete the transaction. This is being referred to as the ‘pay yourself scam’. After the scammers hijacked the man’s account, they took $7500 from him.

  Zelle has released a video on how to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of this scam, as you can see below. But are they really doing enough to educate bank customers on how Zelle can be used to scam them. Part of the problem is that many of the banks that use Zelle make Zelle part of their own app. Many customers aren’t even aware that they have Zelle or how to use it. In some cases, Zelle can be used to access a bank account, whether that customer wants it to happen or not. Zelle needs to better educate and protect their customers before their name becomes synonymous with scams, if it hasn’t already.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 31, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: 2FA ( 12 ), bank fraud, Bank of America ( 11 ), bank scam ( 73 ), customer service ( 51 ), customer support ( 23 ), Scams ( 1,405 ), two factor authentication ( 18 )   

  Victim loses $40K in bank scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  A man from the Central Valley region of California recently lost close to $40,000 in a bank scam. As far as we can tell, Zelle wasn’t even used, which is a rarity these days. The man received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the fraud department at Bank of America. The caller is said to have told the man that there were fraudulent transactions on his account. But before the ‘fraud department’ could help him, they said they needed the man to give them a six-digit code they were sending to him, so he could verify his identity.

  The man gave the caller the code, and we’ll get to the importance of that in just a bit. The caller then told the man that since there was fraudulent activity on his account, they needed to shut down the online banking option on his account. The caller was actually a scammer who drained the man’s account of nearly $40,000 with several transactions.

  The most disturbing part of this scam is that the scammer already had the victim’s personal information. The victim didn’t have to give the caller any information, as the scammer was able to give the man’s personal information to him. The scammer even disabled the notifications the man should have received when the scammer started taking large amounts out of the man’s account.

  So how was the scammer able to access the man’s bank account? The news article doesn’t go into detail about that. However, if we were to hazard a guess, it seems like the scammer already had all the information needed to access the man’s account. The information could have been obtained through any number of data breaches that have happened in the past few years.

  The only thing the scammer really needed to access the account was the authorization code. Many banks require their customers secure their account using a two-factor authentication code. So even if someone tries to log in to a bank account with the username and password, they’ll still need the 2FA code that’s typically sent to the customer’s text messages. Once the scammer was able to obtain that code, they had complete access to the man’s bank account.

  Anytime you receive a phone call from your bank, especially about fraudulent activity, hang up and call the bank back using the number on the back of your debit card. Scammers almost always spoof the number they’re calling from. Also, never give anyone any authorization code over the phone. These codes aren’t just used for banking, either, as many online accounts can be hijacked if someone were to give this number out.