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  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 5, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , bank scam, , ,   

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

    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.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 3, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , bank scam, RFID,   

    A new scam at the ATM 

    A new scam at the ATM

    By Greg Collier

    Previously, if someone was going to be scammed at an ATM, it was typically done through ATM skimmers. These were devices that could be placed in the card slot of an ATM, which would read the details from the magnetic strip of a debit card. ATM users still have to worry about this scam, but skimmers can often be detected by pulling on the ATM’s card slot to see if it comes out. However, there’s a new scam going around where the device used to scan your card is not so noticeable.

    In most modern debit and credit cards, there is an RFID chip. RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. This allows card users to use the ‘tap to pay’ feature at many stores in ATMs. We’re going to focus on debit cards, as credit cards have some protection built-in to prevent this scam. If someone were to go to an ATM and find the card reader blocked or inoperable, they might be directed to use the tap feature on the ATM. If a user did this at a targeted ATM, an RFID reader would be able to obtain the details from the debit card. This would allow scammers to duplicate the card and empty the bank account attached to it.

    Unfortunately, these RFID devices can be well hidden and virtually unnoticeable. However, there are ways to try to protect yourself from this scam. When at the ATM, avoid using the tap feature. If the card reader has been disabled, go inside the bank or use a different ATM at another location. If you have one, think about using a credit card ATM instead. As we mentioned, credit cards have a safeguard that helps prevent this scam. Not only that, but credit cards themselves offer more consumer protection than a debit card.

    If someone were to fall victim to this scam with their debit card, the bank would not offer a refund. As we’ve seen with most bank scams, the banks view these as legitimate transactions.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on March 15, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bank scam, , , , ,   

    Bank tells scam victims they gave ‘consent’ to scammers 

    Bank tells scam victims they gave 'consent' to scammers

    By Greg Collier

    Bank customers are being scammed on an almost daily basis. At least the ones who report the scam anyway, It’s more likely that the majority of recent bank scams aren’t reported to the police or media out of embarrassment. It seems that reports of banks not helping their customers who have been scammed has emboldened the bank scammers to fins more victims since they know the bank won’t do anything about it.

    For example, CBS 2 out of Chicago has done a follow-up story on five local bank customers who lost a total of $100,000 to bank impersonation scams.

    Scammers often follow a typical approach where they contact their targets through calls or messages, asking about their recent transactions. They then use coercive tactics to convince victims that transferring their funds to a different account is the only way to protect their bank accounts. Unfortunately, the account to which the money is transferred is usually controlled by the scammer. These accounts are usually regular checking accounts available through major banks and not offshore accounts.

    Out of the five Chicago victims who CBS 2 spoke with, all five were customers of Chase Bank, and only one of them has been reimbursed. The rest of the victims were told by the bank that since they gave personal information to the scammers, the bank considers that the consent of the customer.

    It also doesn’t help that the legislation designed to protect bank customers doesn’t protect victims from wire fraud. If someone uses the victim’s credit or debit card to commit fraud, customers can be reimbursed for that, but victims of wire fraud are out of luck due to a gap in the regulations. We might also add that these regulations were written in the 1970s. Electronic banking has changed a lot in the past 50 years, but the regulators haven’t kept up with the times. We knew that lawmakers are slow when it comes to updating the law to reflect current technology, but we didn’t realizer they were this slow.

    Some consumer advocates recommend that the banks should require some kind of digital ID before a wire transfer could be made. Others suggest the banks should institute a 24-48 hour delay for wire transfers. While these may sound like good ideas, practical application of them could be a headache for customers.

    What these banks really need to do is to prevent scammers from opening the accounts where the victims’ funds are being wired to. They could even institute a delay when an account tries to close out suddenly.

    At least for now, it’s up to the consumer to protect themselves from these scams.

    In case you receive a text message that appears to be from your bank inquiring about fraudulent activity, avoid using the callback feature provided in the message. Similarly, if someone calls you claiming to be from your bank and asks about fraudulent transactions, it’s best to end the call and directly contact your bank through the phone number provided on the back of your debit card.

    If you’ve been the victim of this scam, don’t hesitate to file a police report. While it’s not a guarantee of getting your money back, it does go a long way in helping.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on March 1, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bank scam, , , , ,   

    Bank to scam victim: “This is on you. We’re out.” 

    By Greg Collier

    Just the other day, we posted a story about how banks are reluctant to reimburse scam victims. This was after stories we posted about how one bank accused a scam victim of being the scammer, and another where scam victims were suing their bank for failing to protect their accounts. The question we keep asking is why can’t the banks stop or reverse these transactions?

    The usual M.O. of scammers involves contacting their targets through calls or messages, inquiring about recent significant transactions. Subsequently, the scammers coerce the victims into believing that transferring their funds to a different account is the sole method of safeguarding their bank accounts. Invariably, the account that the money is relocated to is under the control of the scammer. The bank accounts utilized by scammers are typically not offshore accounts. Instead, they are often regular checking accounts that are available through major banks.

    In a recent bank impersonation scam, two of the nation’s major banks were used. A woman from Seattle got a text that appeared to come from Chase Bank. The text asked her if she had just made a $99 purchase in Florida. The woman called the number back where the text came from and thought she was talking to Chase, but was actually talking to a scammer. The scammer told that to protect her account, she would need to make two $15,000 wire transfers to a Wells Fargo account.

    After realizing she had been scammed, she immediately called Chase Bank and was transferred between eight different departments before someone could help her. By the time she got somebody on the line, the transactions to Wells Fargo had already gone through. Chase told her she would need to fill out paperwork before they could investigate, and that would take at least a week. Chase then allegedly passed the buck, no pun intended, to Wells Fargo. The victim was essentially told that it would depend on Wells Fargo on whether she would get her money back. When she asked Chase for some documentation, she was reportedly told, “We don’t provide that, and we’re out. This is on you.”

    Banks contact customers all the time if they believe a fraudulent purchase or transaction has been made. So, why weren’t either bank suspicious about two wire transfers that totaled $30,000? Why aren’t these transactions being put on hold when a customer claims they’ve been defrauded? And again, why are the banks allowing scammers to open and close bank accounts so quickly?

    If you get a text that looks like it came from your bank asking about a fraudulent transaction, don’t use the callback feature in the text. If someone calls you claiming to be from your bank about fraudulent activity, hang up. Then dial your bank directly at the phone number on the back of your debit card.

    The only way to try to prevent financial loss from these scams is to protect yourself, since it doesn’t appear the banks will go out of their way to help.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 27, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bank scam, , ,   

    Banks refuse to reimburse scam victims 

    By Greg Collier

    It’s been over a year and a half since we started seeing a spate of bank impersonation scams. The bank impersonation scam is a type of fraud where scammers impersonate your bank’s fraud department. Typically, the scammers will call or text their victims, asking them if they’ve recently made large purchases or transfers. Then the scammers tell their victims that the only way to protect bank accounts is to move the money to another account. The bank account the money is moved to always belongs to a scammer.

    For example, a young woman from North Carolina was in the process of saving up for her wedding in the Fall. She received a phone call from someone who claimed to be from her bank, Wells Fargo. The caller told the woman, someone from Colombia was trying to take thousands of dollars out of the woman’s account. Like many scam victims, the woman was told to download an app called AnyDesk, which allows a computer or phone to be accessed remotely. Before she knew it, the scammer had cleaned out the woman’s bank account of close to $10,000.

    Since these scams started garnering headlines, the banks have been reluctant to reimburse scam victims. The banks tend to claim, since the customer authorized the transfer, even if tricked into doing so, their hands are tied. Some customers got their money back from the banks after taking their stories to their local news stations. Now, it seems, the banks aren’t refunding those customers either. The bride to be from North Carolina was told by Wells Fargo that she wouldn’t be getting her money back, even after contacting Wells Fargo and the police immediately after being scammed. She went to a local news station who contacted Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo’s response was that they were working to raise awareness about these scams. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t get the customer’s money back.

    And what about the bank accounts the scammers are transferring the victim’s money to? These aren’t overseas bank accounts. Often these bank accounts are just your normal checking account you can get with any one of the major banks. Why are these accounts being allowed to be opened and closed so quickly?

    In the future, banks need to be more transparent not only with their rules regarding scam victims, but also what they’re doing to try to prevent customers from being scammed. Just claiming that they’re raising awareness doesn’t cut it.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 27, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bank scam, , , ,   

    Scam victims sue bank for failing to protect accounts 

    By Greg Collier

    In the past year or so, some of the nation’s largest banks have been notoriously ambivalent when it comes to helping their customers who have been scammed. For example, many of the victims who were scammed through Zelle have been told their money can’t be recovered since the customer authorized the transfer. Although, some of the victims have gotten reimbursed after going to their local media.

    One bank that seems particularly obstinate in helping their customers is Chase bank. A number of incidents have been reported in the media lately where Chase customers have been scammed in a similar way to the Zelle scam. Chase customers have reported receiving phone calls that appear to come from Chase, but are spoofed calls from scammers. The scammers tell the customer there’s been some kind of fraudulent activity on their account before getting the customer to transfer the money in their account to the scammer. This is typically done through the guise of ‘protecting’ the customer’s account. Not only has Chase refused to assist some customers, but in at least one instance have accused the customer of being the scammer themselves.

    Now, two customers from the Dallas area have decided to take Chase to court. One of the customers lost $51,000 in a tech support scam. She went to her local Chase branch for assistance, and they allegedly told her that the transfer was caught in time, and she won’t lose the money. A few weeks later, the money was gone from her account.

    The other victim lost $3500 to a fake Chase representative who also claimed they were trying to protect the account. This caller was said to have the customer’s account information already. Like the first customer, she went to her local Chase branch and closed her account and opened a new one. She was told the bank would launch a fraud investigation. A week later, she was told the claim was denied since she authorized the transfer.

    So, even after notifying the bank of the scams and being told the transfers have been caught, Chase allegedly failed to protect their customers. Instead, they’re unintentionally, at least, supporting the scammers.

    While you may have been a loyal customer to your bank for decades, these days, most of us are just numbers to them. They’re not in the business of trying to protect you. If you receive a call from your bank asking about fraudulent charges, hang up, and call them back at their customer service number from the back of your debit card. If you receive a text message, don’t respond. Instead, call your bank or go to your local branch.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on January 13, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , bank scam, , , , JPMorgan Chase,   

    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.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on December 14, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , bank scam, , ,   

    Even businesses should watch out for check washing 

    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.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on October 21, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bank scam, , , , ,   

    Scam Round Up: Why we keep receiving scam messages and more 

    By Greg Collier

    This week on the Round Up, we’re going to discuss two familiar scams in new clothes, and a look into the scam process itself.

    ***

    Our first scam is a good old phishing scam. If you’re not familiar with the term phishing, it’s when scammers send out messages hoping to get personal information from their victims. It’s like the scammers are on a fishing expedition for victims.

    Bank information is a big target for scammers, and the latest scam is going after the banking login information of its victims. In Virginia, it’s being reported that residents there are receiving emails that appear to be coming from their bank with official logos and everything.

    The emails claim that the bank has a new security procedure in place and provides a link for their users to log in. The link will actually take the victim to a page that looks like the bank’s official login page, but will instead steal the user’s login information.

    Never click on any links in an email or text message from someone you don’t know personally. And always check the URL of any page you’re on to make sure it’s legitimate before logging in.

    ***

    There’s a new scam circulating on social media where a victim can be promised as much as $1 million. This scam happens when you receive a direct message from a friend who says they saw your name on a list of people who are owed unclaimed workers’ compensation. Except, the friend is actually a scammer who has hijacked your friend’s account. The scammer then tells you to call an ‘agent’ at a certain phone number who can help you. If someone calls the number, not only will they be asked for their personal information, but they’ll be told there will be a payment for the process. This is very similar to the government grant scam, where victims are promised free money. This also known as the advance fee scam. When it comes to things like grants and compensation, you should never have to pay money to get money.

    ***

    Lastly, have you ever wondered why you might be receiving scam messages even though you’re careful with your contact information? For example, you may not give your phone number or email address to too many people outside of those in your inner circle. Yet, you still get scam texts, calls, and emails. So, how does that happen?

    Scammers always cast a wide net in order to lure in a handful of victims. They cast the widest net by sending their messages at random to any combination of email addresses and phone numbers. If a scammer gets a reply from any one of these millions of guesses, they know there’s a real person at that email address or phone number.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on September 23, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , bank scam, , security code,   

    Man loses $7500 in new Zelle scam 

    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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