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Being aware of scams and solicitation for fraudulent purposes goes a long way in protecting your personal information. Scams are perpetrated any number of ways, arriving via the internet, telephone or traditional mail and designed to make you act impulsively. Below are various fraud schemes that occur, with information on what to look for. On the next page, is information to guard your personal information from Identity Theft.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 - The ABA has been alerted that someone or a group of individuals sending emails purporting to be from ABA are actually part of a scam commonly known as phishing. These con artists are sending emails asking people to click on a link for more information -- a popular technique to get financial information from the email recipient.
The emails inform recipients that an "unauthorized transaction" has been charged to their account using their "bank card." The amount of the transactions is typically between $3,000 and $7,000. ABA would never contact a consumer and ask for financial information.
The ABA is working with law enforcement to identify the source of the emails and to disrupt them.
We have received notice that individuals or companies may have received a falsified e-mail with the subject title "Rejected ACH Transaction". This e-mail appears to be from NACHA - the Electronic Payments Association, telling them that there is a problem with an ACH transaction they have originated. The e-mail includes a link which is almost certainly an executable virus with malware. It is recommended that you delete this e-mail and do not open it.
If you have a new job and can answer YES to any of the questions below, you are involved in a “JOB SCAM”, and quite possibly money laundering and/or terrorist financing.
Did you get your job without an interview?
Does your new job involve wiring funds?
Is your job title either a “Shopper” or a “Paying Agent”?
This fraud is committed by either sending you a check, or having funds from a U.S. company electronically deposited to your account. Your job is to take the funds from the check or deposit, go to a large wire transfer company, and wire the funds to someone you do not know. Most of the wires are sent out of the United States. The check you deposit is counterfeit and the funds received electronically have been stolen from a legitimate company.
Remember, you are responsible for all deposits to your bank account and will be in the position of owing the Bank the entire amount of the deposit.
Lately, check fraud schemes have drawn a lot of attention because of both the number of existing scams and the huge financial losses they generate.
An insurance company is getting the word out about such scams as consumers continue to be duped by lucrative offers to make money by depositing checks into their accounts and then wiring a portion of the funds to a third-party account, only to find out that the checks deposited were altered or counterfeit. A Midwestern community bank is dealing with the loss of almost one million dollars from a commercial customer who fell for such a scheme.
The victim has been a long-term customer of the bank. He was contacted by oversees investors to invest in equipment in South Africa. As part of an elaborate international transaction, they claimed that they needed funds to come from the U.S. in order to pay the taxes on the equipment. The victim was informed that he would receive a check and should wire most of the funds to an account in Japan, keeping the remaining balance for his assistance.
Three checks from large American companies were received and deposited, and over $950,000 was wired to Japan in three installments. The checks were returned to the bank by the maker's banks shortly thereafter as having altered payees. The checks had been stolen and altered to reflect the victim as payee. By that time, the money had been wired out of the Japanese bank.
It's important for both retail and commercial customers to remember that if a deal sounds to good to be true, it probably is. Since liability for any bad checks deposited falls on the customer, we can't overstate the need for caution.
The FBI has posted a Fraud Alert which addresses a number of scams with a list of point-blank questions that should be cause for concern anytime you can answer "yes" as you could be involved in fraud or about to be scammed.
- Is the CHECK from an item you sold on the Internet, such as a car, boat, jewelry, etc.?
- Is the amount of the CHECK more than the item's selling price?
- Did you receive the CHECK via an overnight delivery service?
- Is the CHECK connected to communicating with someone by e–mail?
- Is the CHECK drawn on a business or individual account that is different from the person buying your item or product?
- Have you been informed that you were the winner of a LOTTERY, such as Canadian, Australian, El Gordo, or El Mundo, that you did not enter?
- Have you been instructed to either "WIRE", "SEND" OR "SHIP" MONEY, as soon as possible, to a large U.S. city or to another country, such as Canada, England, or Nigeria?
- Are you receiving PAY or a COMMISSION for facilitating money transfers through your account?
- Did you respond to an e–mail requesting you to CONFIRM, UPDATE OR PROVIDE your account information?
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Foreign or out-of-state lotteries or sweepstakes is an old favorite. Who wouldn't want to believe that they've won a fortune? But if you've “won” a lottery that you did not enter or are asked to pay fees to collect any prize, odds are that it's a scam. Adding insult to injury are the subsequent frauds which dupe victims into paying a fee to someone (usually someone posing as a law enforcement officer) to recover lost money.
“Phishing” (also called “spoofing”) is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a website where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The website, however, is bogus and designed only to steal the user’s information.
- Never share your User ID or password with anyone. A bank representative will never ask you for your password.
- Question suspicious e–mails. We will never send you an e–mail asking for your online ID or PIN.
- To be sure you're on the website you want, type the address in your browser address bar.
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