Fraudsters come in many varieties. We must be vigilant to protect our assets and potentially the assets of others. Mike is joined by Carl Francois, SVP and Bank Security Act and Fraud Officer for Southern First Bank, to discuss tricks we all need to be aware of.
Scams can come from email, text, social media, and phone calls. Very common scam types recently have been the Romance Scam and Military Scam. Mike and Carl discuss how these scammers work and some things to look out for.
Mike and Carl discuss ways of preventing getting caught in a scam including:
- Ignore and delete unsolicited social media messages, texts, and emails
- Share less on social media!
- Watch out for requests for gift cards, wires, a new PayPal or Venmo account, investing in cryptocurrency
- Watch for phone calls that mimic your phone number
- Don’t send passwords or other confidential information over email
- Look for unusual or misspelled email addresses
The Federal Trade Commission has good resources about scams on their website. The FBI has also set up the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov), where you can report internet crimes.
You can also report the scams to your banker or another trusted individual or ask them about the communication before you take any action.
Carl also recently wrote this article for Southern First Bank on the top 3 scams right now.
Final words: Always be discerning!
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