Beware of Scammers Trying to Get Your Account Info!

Keep Scammers at BayFinancial institutions have seen an uptick in scam reporting. These scams are getting more sophisticated and even harder to detect for the average consumer.

Scammers are using phone calls, emails, and even text messages to lure unsuspecting victims into compromising situations. Often, these scammers will pretend to be from legitimate sources to gain your trust, including companies like Amazon, PayPal, Walmart, Best Buy, and even your credit union.

Types of Scams

While there are many types of scams, the most common these days occur using technology:

  • Spoofing: disguising a phone number, email, or URL to make you think you’re talking to a legitimate source.
  • Phishing: email scams that make you think you’re interacting with someone trusted.
  • Vishing: phone scams that make you think you’re interacting with someone trusted.
  • Smishing: text or SMS scams that make you think you’re interacting with someone trusted.

Learn more from the FBI.

Common Scams

Here are just a few of the scams we’ve been seeing recently:

  • Grandparent Scam
    • Caller claims to be a grandchild in trouble with the law and needs bail/lawyer fees but doesn’t want you to tell their parents. Learn more from the FCC.
  • AI Scam
  • Law Enforcement Scams
  • IRS Scams
  • Social Security Scams
    • Claims there is a problem with your Social Security account that you need to urgently fix or promises to increase your SSI. Learn more about from the SSA.
  • Healthcare/Insurance Scam
    • Claims to be healthcare or Medicare and claims you need to pay a bill OR claims to represent an equipment company your doctor authorized to give you a medical aid and then sends you equipment and a high bill. Learn more from the FTC.
  • Investment/Bitcoin Scam
  • Tech Support Scam
    • Popups or emails saying you have a virus that needs to be fixed and you need to call a number for help or click a link. Learn more from the FTC.
  • Lottery/”Foreign Dignitary” Scam
    • Notification that you’ve won a foreign lottery or there’s a foreign official who needs your help in exchange for a large amount of money; will ask for payment of fees to claim winnings/reward for help. Learn more from the CFPB.
  • Romance Scam
    • Email or dating site contact where the other person claims to be overseas or in another state; can last a long time, getting to know you before asking for money for travel, medical expenses, or a tragic event. Learn more from the CFPB.
  • Charity Scam
  • Wellness Scam
  • Overpayment Scam
    • Gives you a check for more than the amount or tells you there’s a transaction fee, asks for the difference/fees back in a money order, electronic transfer, cash, or gift cards; check is fake and takes longer to clear financial institution than the amount you send back. Learn more from the FTC.
  • Contractor Scam
    • Someone knocks on your door and says they are “in the neighborhood” for another job and that they noticed you have something that needs repair OR they have materials left over from another job that can repair it for you; these scammers are looking for cash up front. Learn more from the NC Department of Justice.

Common Red Flags

Think it might be a scam? These Red Flags can be a clue that something’s not right!

🚩 Uses “stressor events” to make you “act now!”—they might say they are in an emergency and need you to act quickly, or that this offer is a very limited time and they need an answer from you immediately.

🚩 Asks you to pay in gift cards—scammers will often say you can fix your problem by buying gift cards and giving them the codes. No legitimate company or organization will offer to take payment from you in the form of a gift card unless you’re purchasing something with their gift card.

🚩 They need your full account, password, social, etc. If you have an account, we will never ask for full numbers or passwords!

🚩 Insistent you send them your banking or identity details to get paid OR insist they pay you with a check—don’t EVER give someone you don’t know your account information! If you didn’t initiate the call, chances are it’s not legit. And if they send you a check, bring it in and we’ll gladly verify the funds for you.  If this check is returned, you’re out the amount of the check, the returned check fee, AND any money you may have sent them for cashing it for you!

🚩 Asks you to lie to a teller or money order clerk about where the money is going—your financial institution as well as money order businesses are trained to ask about transactions that seem out of the ordinary to help prevent you from being taken advantage of! Being honest could save you a lot of heartache.

🚩 Many misspelled words or poor grammar in an official email—companies like to put their best foot forward and don’t typically send out communications with multiple spelling errors.

🚩 Claim they’ve been “scammed before” and don’t want you to do that to them, so they have an unusual way of doing the transaction “for safety”.

🚩 Person is out of town or out of the country, so they can’t meet with you or won’t talk to you over the phone, just over email or text—this is a clear indicator that they’re not who they say they are.

🚩 You try to find the person, business, or phone number with a Google search but you can’t find anything—this is a good indicator that this person may not exist.

Tips for Staying Safe

Here are some great tips for reducing your chances of getting scammed:
  • If you don’t recognize the number or email address, don’t answer or respond. This is the easiest thing you can do to protect yourself.
  • If you didn’t initiate contact with a company for a service, don’t give them your information. Scammers have been known to say they represent a legitimate company and offer you a service you didn’t request, tell you that you’ve won a prize you didn’t enter for, or convince you there’s an issue with a transaction you didn’t make.
  • Stay focused. Scammers count on distracting you by creating a problem you need to solve so that they can gain access to your information.
  • Don’t offer information, such as names of people or institutions. Scammers will pretend to be someone and wait for you to identify a person’s name or say something like, “I don’t bank with you, I bank with Revity FCU.”
  • If you are on the phone and concerned it might be a scam, tell the person you’re busy right now and ask for their name and a number you can call back on. Most scammers will try to keep you on the phone instead of giving you information to call them back.
  • Just hang up or delete! If you don’t feel right, you don’t need to stay on the phone or hang on to that email or text message. Simply hang up the phone or delete the message!
  • Unless you know the person you are talking to on the other end of the phone is a legitimate company you are authorizing to debit or credit money to you, never give:
    • Your routing number
    • Your full checking or savings account number
    • Your full debit or credit card number, expiration date, or security code
    • Your address
    • The MICR line from the bottom of your check
  • Never give out:
    • Your home banking login information
    • Any online passwords
    • Your address
    • Your PIN number
    • Any OTP (one-time passcodes) to login to an account
  • Remember: if you give out your information, there’s little to no chance at recovering your losses. Always err on the side of caution and keep your information safe!

What to do if You’ve Been Scammed

It happens! Even the most diligent of people can find themselves victims of misinformation.

  • Keep a record of all the communication between you and the scammer as evidence
  • Call your financial institution and let them know if your account has been compromised
  • Revity FCU has Card Controls in our app to turn off your debit or credit card in the event that it’s lost or stolen!
  • Contact any credit card companies for any cards that might have been compromised
  • Change all of your passwords and PIN numbers
  • If you have given out your SSN, contact Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax to restrict access to your credit reports or request a fraud alert
  • Submit a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov
  • File a police report
  • Report the scam to the NC Attorney General’s Office at NCDOJ.gov
  • If the scam was online, file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov
  • Monitor your credit

It’s important to remember that if you have provided the scammer with your bank account information, your card numbers, your online banking information, your PIN number, or paid them money, you will most likely NOT be able to recoup your losses.  ALWAYS stop and think about the situation before you give your information or money away!

If you ever have any questions concerning your account, please reach out to us at 336-373-2090 and we’ll be happy to help you.