Outsmarting Scammers: Your Guide to Fortifying Against Financial Fraud

Ever wonder how scammers craft such convincing schemes? Dive into the dark world of financial fraud with us as we're joined by experts Carmen Million of the Better Business Bureau, Adrienne from the Fraud and Forgery Department, and Cheri with Deposit Operations Network. We're tearing down the facade of those too-good-to-be-true offers and revealing how artificial intelligence has become a tool for deception in the scammer's toolkit. Our guests unpack the latest in fraudulent antics, offering you the insight needed to spot a scam from a mile away.

Your financial safety is precious; we're here to arm you with protective gear. This episode isn't just a wake-up call; it's a battle plan. We discuss the significance of keeping your details current with your financial institutions, why scrutinizing account activities can be your saving grace, and how a complex password stands between you and disaster. The truth is, no one is invincible against fraud, but with our guidance, you'll be far from an easy target. And if you do find yourself caught in a scammer's web, we'll walk you through the immediate steps to free yourself and fight back.

Lastly, let's spotlight your cell phone – that little device that's an extension of ourselves but also a beacon for scams. We cover practical ways to reduce spam calls and safeguard your number like it's a treasure. Plus, we'll point you in the direction of resources to not only protect but also grow your finances. With the National Do Not Call Registry and call-blocking apps in your arsenal, we're ensuring those pesky scam calls don't stand a chance. Join us as we lay down the law on financial fraud and turn the tables on scammers.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want. Now here is your host, ms Kim Chapman.

Speaker 2: 0:14

Welcome to another edition of Money Matters. I'm your host, kim Chapman. In an age where technology continues to advance and financial transactions become increasingly digital, the risk of falling victim to scams and fraud is ever-present. So, whether it's a phishing email, fraudulent investment scams, identity theft or threats of any other evolving technology, don't worry, we are here to help. Throughout this episode, we'll equip you with practical tips, strategies on how to protect yourself and your hard-earned money.

Speaker 2: 0:46

So joining me today. I've got a table full of knowledgeable guests, so I'm going to start with Ms Carmen Million of the Better Business Bureau. Good morning, kim. Thank you for having me. And then we have Adrienne with our Fraud and Forgery Department, here at Neighbors. Good morning, kim. And then, last but certainly not least, ms Cherie with at Neighbors. Good morning Kim. And then, last but certainly not least, ms Cherie with Deposit Operations Network. Good morning. I've got lots of questions and I know these are the people with the perfect answers, so we will go ahead and get started, and I think, carmen, of course, with the BBB. I think I want to start with you. Can you just give us an overview of the role of the BBB and how they assist consumers with financial crimes?

Speaker 4: 1:27

Well, first of all, the Better Business Bureau. Most people don't realize our main service is to provide information to help consumers and businesses make informed decisions. But we also alert consumers on current scams and schemes and, unfortunately, financial scams are something that we deal with on a daily basis.

Speaker 2: 1:44

So right now, of course, because one of the reasons I wanted to call you in it seems like there has been an uptick in financial scams all over the place, especially with artificial intelligence. Can you tell us what are some of the more common scams that you're seeing today?

Speaker 4: 2:00

Well, first of all, the biggest thing is where people get a text, a call, an email, whatever from it looks like it's coming from their bank and they're told that there's a discrepancy on their account and they need to click on this link. And what we want consumers to understand is one if that happens, you should never respond immediately. You need to go to your account records and contact your bank directly. But with artificial intelligence, we used to tell people to look at the spelling and the visuals and you could see the discrepancies there, but with AI, it cleans it all up. So these scammers it makes it easier for them to look more legitimate. And the other thing is is you can't trust caller ID Because, again, scammers can manipulate the phone system and make it look like it's coming from your bank. We don't want consumers to react because of fear. You want to immediately take a step back, take a deep breath and call your bank directly.

Speaker 2: 3:01

Are there certain things that consumers can look for that may help us detect whether this is AI or whether it's something that's legitimate?

Speaker 4: 3:09

Well, if it's a text or something from social media, you can really look at it. If you stare at it long enough, you can see some of the words are different. You can see a lot of the commercials. You'll see they'll have like, a famous person's head, but it doesn't really fit the body. There's so many things that you can look at If you're paying attention. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't, so you just need to be cautious, be your first line of defense and don't react to that.

Speaker 2: 3:39

Are there specific demographics or groups that are more vulnerable to scams involving bank and credit union crimes versus other, you know, financial crimes?

Speaker 4: 3:48

Well, you know, years ago, if you'd asked me that question, I would have told you senior citizens, because they were accessible. Gen Z, gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Z these are ages from 18 to 59, are 34% more likely than older adults to report losing money to fraud. So because they are on their phones, they're on their technology, social media, it's more accessible to them and they're an easier target and unfortunately, they fall for these things before they ask questions.

Speaker 2: 4:34

So, Adrienne, here at Neighbors, are you seeing any specific age group yourself in terms of financial crimes that have affected our members?

Speaker 1: 4:40

Yes, I tend to see demographic between 18 and, I guess, around 26 to 30. I would expand it to 30 now. At first it was like 26, but now it seems like it's getting broader in age, but definitely 18 to 30.

Speaker 2: 5:02

And what are some of the oldest and newest scams that you've seen within the credit union?

Speaker 1: 5:07

The older ones, of course the grandparent scams, the secret shopper, the jobs online through you know reputable companies, but when you, when they go to, if you don't do your research, they're just thinking it's that company but they're just pretending or have their logo in that email and send whatever information without actually going through a serious process of you know applying for a job and things like that, which is amazing to me. But our newer thing scams I've been seeing lately is with social media and the quick cash. The social media scams where they'll tell you we can get you this amount of money, we'll deposit this, and I guess they'll say you give me a cut, but you'll have this much in your bank with the quick cash. And, of course, once the check returns and they've already given them access to their accounts, then they are left responsible for clearing up the negative balance in the account.

Speaker 2: 6:15

So, cherie, I want to give you this next question. You know, I think it's pretty self-explanatory in terms of what an unauthorized transaction is, but then there's the terminology when a victim actually participated in an unauthorized crime. Can you tell us a little bit about the difference between just a straight unauthorized crime and then if the victim has actually played a role or participated in it?

Speaker 3: 6:37

I don't love the words authorized versus unauthorized because a member. Anytime they feel that they have gotten money out of their account that they didn't want to come out of their account, they're going to say it was unauthorized because a member. Anytime they feel that they have gotten money out of their account that they didn't want to come out of their account, they're going to say it was unauthorized. In our dispute questionnaires we prefer the terminology did the member participate in the transaction? Fraud is when a fraudster somehow got your information and you don't know how they got it. They somehow got a hold of your information and deb don't know how they got it. They somehow got a hold of your information and debited your account. That is fraud. You did not participate, so it's pretty cut and dry Now with participation.

Speaker 3: 7:14

Scams are very common right now, and so if somebody calls and pretends to be the IRS or we're seeing a lot of people pretend to be us they're spoofing our number on the caller ID and they're saying that they're a neighbor's representative, They'll probe them for information like their online banking, their card number, their account number, a multitude of things, and the member will provide that information, thinking that they're speaking to us, but we're never going to ask you for that information when we call you, because we already have that informational file. So they're giving out that information and that is the members going to want to say that they did not participate, but they did because they willingly provided sensitive information that they should not have provided. It is handled differently from a dispute perspective.

Speaker 2: 8:01

And can you tell us what are some steps that consumers can take to safeguard their accounts and personal information so they're not exploited by scammers?

Speaker 3: 8:08

I think it's really important to always make sure that you have the most recent email address, phone number, contact information with your bank, because if we see some fraud happening, we're going to try to get in front of it and contact you and let you know, but if we don't have, you know, good contact information for you, we're not going to be able to help you with that. Another thing that's good future prevention for the members is we try to catch what we can, but they can't just rely on their financial institution to do that. They need to monitor their account regularly. They need to make sure they're keeping their PIN and password secure. Use strong passwords for online banking. Be cautious with phone calls and emails and the people that were targeted for scams.

Speaker 2: 9:05

Are there other misconceptions about scams that consumers need to be aware of? That we can kind of demystify today.

Speaker 4: 9:12

Well, let me tell you this this is my favorite saying is it doesn't matter how smart you are, what your age is, what your education is or what your background is. If the timing is right, anybody can be a potential victim. That's the reality. It doesn't matter who you are. We have judges that call us, and I wanted to address one of the things that was said about the job scams. We're getting those, we're getting calls on those, and what people don't realize is the scammers are using a legitimate job site, so that job site listing company is also a victim. So you know it's more than one victim on these particular scams.

Speaker 4: 9:49

But people need to understand that it doesn't matter who you are. If the situation is right, you could be a potential victim. I'm not a grandmother. My kids do not have kids. I'm not going to be a part of the grandparent scam. However, if I've been late on my IRS payment, I might be a potential victim. And, of course, people are victims because of different reasons fear, greed, gullibility, just like talking about the people that participated in the scam. A lot of times they get that information because they're afraid it doesn't make it right, and that's why we tell consumers you have to be your first line of defense. You have to protect yourself. Don't allow scammers, don't make it easy for scammers to take advantage of you. Period.

Speaker 2: 10:39

I think technology has changed so much, especially with AI, that sometimes it's just a coincidence. I can remember just a couple of weeks ago. Most of my shopping is through Amazon, but this particular day I had a package coming from some other merchant and I remember looking to track it and it said, ok, it was in Port Allen. And within an hour I got an email, just a random email, that said hey, there was a problem with your package. You know, click here. And because of where I work and, of course, because of the industry, I knew not to do it. But I could see the timing in that I just saw that it had arrived at Port Allen, you know, at 630 in the morning. No-transcript, because again, it just seems to be so timely and real now, versus before, I would get a text from Bank of America saying, hey, there's a problem with your account. Well, I don't have an account with Bank of America. That was pretty easy. But now they'll say there's a problem with Amazon. Who in this room does not have an Amazon account?

Speaker 4: 12:06

Exactly. And these scammers are very smart. They look at technology just like we do social media. They know what people in the United States are using, what apps they're using and, of course, most of the scammers we find are out of the country. What can you do about it? In a lot of cases, nothing. Most of these people that lose money. We tell them it's an expensive lesson, but they have to learn from it.

Speaker 4: 12:29

And the reality is, in this day and age is you cannot trust anything. Look at everything with doubt, with skepticism. If it's a company that you do business with, don't respond. Contact that bank or that financial institution before you provide information. And, just like the other lady said, you're not going to ask for that information. You should already have it. And the funny thing is like the IRS. I always tell people have you ever tried to call the IRS? It's insane. You can't get through them. Do you really think the reason they're busy is because they're trying to call you? And you have to understand that most of these government agencies are not going to call you. They're going to send you something in the mail. And even if you receive something in the mail, be skeptical. Check on it. If, when in doubt. Call your financial institution, call the Better Business Bureau. If we can't help you, we will direct you to the proper agency, but don't allow scammers to take advantage of you.

Speaker 2: 13:24

Now I ask this question to each of you because you have sort of different roles. You know, when a person discovers that they've been a victim of a financial crime, what are the first steps or immediate things that they need to do? And so I'll go with you, carmen first.

Speaker 4: 13:39

Well, the first of all, if it's concerning their financials, they need to contact their financial institution immediately. That's the first thing we tell them. You need to resolve that first. Get the bleeding to stop before it gets worse. That's the first thing. Then you can, if they've stolen your identity, you can put a freeze on your credit. We give them information on how to do that. We also want them to report it to the proper agencies the Federal Trade Commission, the Attorney General's Office, depending on where the scammer is coming from. And then, of course, you can also go bbborg backslash scam tracker, and that's on our website, and that allows us to keep track of what scams are hitting the area. Scams are hitting the area, which is why you see us do news releases on these particular scams, because we're trying to take a proactive approach to protecting consumers.

Speaker 2: 14:27

Okay, cherie, from an operations side, what would you recommend to be the first things that they do?

Speaker 3: 14:33

Now, sometimes we'll have members realize it while they're on the phone and so obviously we want them to immediately hang up and call us. Now, sometimes they may not realize it until they start seeing charges debited from their account and the best thing I can advise to them is to you know, call us. I prefer, if they can, to come into a branch, because sometimes these scammers have already logged into their online bank and changed the user ID, password, phone number. So the fraudster will then call our contact center and we think it's the member, because they've updated the address and stuff and the phone number to fraudulent information. So it's definitely I like them coming into a branch, because then we can physically ID them and know that we're speaking with our member.

Speaker 3: 15:21

But you know, I know that's not always feasible. But they also need to think back to the conversation with the scammer. Like, what did you provide? If you provided the debit card, we need to close the debit card, possibly file a dispute. If you provided account number, we need to convert your account. If you provided online banking credentials, you need to change your user ID and password. So it's just really good to get with the bank, because they're going to go through all that with you and see what needs to be changed or fixed.

Speaker 2: 15:50

All right, and Adrienne, of course, because you see the dark side of this in terms of being a fraud and forgery. What do you recommend in terms of immediate step To piggyback?

Speaker 1: 15:59

on what they said definitely contact your financial institution If you have their mobile app on your phone. Check your account to see what is possibly fraud or what isn't. Definitely recommend closing or freezing your account until you can make it to your institution to do that. You know, depending on the fraud, we suggest you may file a police report or report any activity to the ic3.gov. If you suspect ID theft, we will ask you to file a report with the idtheftgov website. And any mail fraud we ask you to report any mail theft regarding checks or anything like that with your postal inspector.

Speaker 3: 16:44

And to add on to that I know not everyone loves apps, but I do. I think it's so important to have the mobile app with neighbors or any FI, because there are some fraud prevention tools in that as well. Because if you have been speaking to a scammer and you know you gave out your information and you immediately realize it, you can hurry up and log in, change your user ID and password. That can kind of help nip some stuff in the bud. And then also, anytime you get a new debit card with us, you can register that card number and if you think you've been compromised, you can go in and freeze your card, because if it's after hours you can still. We have an after hours line but it would be so quick if you could just log in and freeze that card and then reach out to us to try to get ahead of it.

Speaker 1: 17:29

If I could tell a quick story, absolutely, since you mentioned that I had an incident where I went to purchase some crawfish and Be rich. No, this was two years ago. Let me say that.

Speaker 3: 17:45

Not 2024 crawfish Right.

Speaker 1: 17:48

But went to purchase some crawfish and thought I'd put my debit card back into my purse. Luckily, I went to the gas station to get some gas but ended up changing my mind when I went home. Realized we didn't have enough crawfish, went back to the place to get more. Realized wait, where's my debit card? So I was able to use that feature to lock my card. About four hours later I get a denial text through my phone saying someone was trying to use my card at Party City. And you know, thankfully, because I did that and reacted so quickly, I was able to prevent all kind of charges being done on my card and through my account.

Speaker 3: 18:34

And what's nice about it is sometimes people just honestly misplace their card. It's not truly lost, so it does allow you also to freeze it, and if you do find it you can unfreeze it. But if it's lost, like what happened to Adrian, then you can call in and get it closed and then register the new card.

Speaker 2: 18:51

So, in terms of the fraud department that we have internal and external, in terms of reaching out, it's very common reaching out if there's a suspicious transaction. Is there a preferred method? Because I can remember once upon a time I remember getting a phone call right and it was you know saying, hey, can you verify if this is a legitimate charge or not? Now I'm receiving text or email, so is it a trend that has moved more toward this, or should there be a red flag if you receive one form of communication over the other?

Speaker 4: 19:22

I would think you would have to be suspicious. On either way, you still need to contact your financial institution. You still need to be skeptical. I know that sounds negative, but in this world we live in, you have to protect yourself. So, whether it's a phone call or text or email, you still have to be suspicious. Look for the email address to see you know if it says a gov or organization or whatever. But even that is not a safe bet. These scammers are really really good at what they do. They can get the smartest people, just you know, by, and AI is helping that. So I would think the main thing is, no matter what it is, you should contact your bank directly and, as she said, sherry said, if it's possible, go to your bank directly. But I love the applications that you guys have, because consumers need to take a proactive step to protect themselves, and what better way than to have the app that they can freeze immediately instead of frantically trying to call the bank or driving down there?

Speaker 2: 20:24

Because that'll be the day that you know phone service won't work. But oh, that's another story, right? So what are potential risks and consequences for consumers who fall victim to these scams, both in financial losses and personal information compromise? I'll let whoever wants to address that question.

Speaker 4: 20:41

Well, I can tell you what the Better Business Bureau tells consumers. Especially if you've easily provided personal financial information, Use it as a lesson. You will more than likely never receive your money back, especially if you participated. It doesn't matter what the amount is. The bank is not or the financial institution is not automatically required to just reimburse you because you made a bad decision, even if it's based on fear. But it's a lesson. Lessons are usually painful and usually expensive, but you have to learn from it and make sure you don't make that mistake again.

Speaker 3: 21:17

And to piggyback off what she's saying from a debit card perspective. You know, when we file a dispute, we have chargeback rights and we go with the merchant and we try to recoup your money. But also, if you willingly gave out your information, the financial institution didn't do that and that merchant, they're a victim also and they shouldn't have to pay back your money either, because they you know they weren't. It wasn't really them that frauded you. They, the fraudster, used them as a channel to take your money, but they weren't responsible.

Speaker 2: 21:51

How do scammers typically target individuals in terms of their bank accounts, and what are the warning signs that they should look for?

Speaker 4: 21:58

I can tell you from the Better Business Bureau's perspective. Most consumers are targeted either by a text. There's the social media aspect, where they'll send a notice to a friend that they got a. They are announcing to that friend they've got a large grant and that they can take advantage of it. All they have to do is click on this link. And then, of course, when you click on the link, it drives you to a scammer who's going to ask you for your banking information. There's so many ways out there that they're using that opportunity to take advantage of consumers. Even on Facebook, we tell consumers not to trust it.

Speaker 3: 22:33

And a big one that we see in my area is we actually Neighbors does use text to try to prevent fraud, and so we'll shoot the member a text that says did you try to do this Best Buy transaction, yes or no? And what's happening is they're responding no and then the fraudster so it may not be necessarily from us and it could be coming from the fraudster and the fraudster will immediately call them after they respond, and the way you can tell the difference between it being neighbors or the fraudster is the fraudster is going to start asking for the card information, all these major specifics about their information, to then start to try to scam them. But if you get a text and you're worried is this from a scammer or is this from neighbors just call us directly.

Speaker 2: 23:19

All right. So what kind of factors, after you know somebody's discovered that they've become a victim, they've reached out to their financial institution. What factors, if any, might impact the timeline for resolving a fraud claim and how can victims stay informed about the progress?

Speaker 1: 23:34

Well, definitely, the sooner you recognize it and contact us is better. Like I said before, getting that police report done, come in, fill out the appropriate paperwork that may need to be filled out so we can start our process of investigating and seeing if we can possibly retrieve any funds back for you or hopefully not take up or you won't, you know, be able to take a loss on our end as well as the members in.

Speaker 4: 24:06

The other thing I want to say about that is because of the reactions we get. We tell people contact your financial institution, call the police department and file a police report, and they'll call the police department and they'll say well, there's really no action we can take. That's not what you need, because the scammers are probably not in the country. You need that police report to prove or to back up your story that you've been a victim of a scam, and nobody's going to go to the police department and file a police report if they haven't been a victim in most cases. So it's really important for you to understand that when you file that police report, you need that piece of paper. You can't expect them to be able to find the scammer.

Speaker 2: 24:43

How can consumers report suspicious activity and scams to the BBB? What information should they provide when they contact?

Speaker 4: 24:50

you. Well, first of all, we want to know what's going on, how it happened, and we want to get them the information immediately on what to do, because in most cases they've called us, they've just been told that if they don't give their personal financial information immediately, there's going to be a bench warrant for their arrest. They're scared, they call us, and so the first thing we want to do is make sure they've contacted the appropriate agencies the bank, the police department, that sort of thing In order for us to report it and take action. They need to go to our website Again, as I said, bbborg backslash scam tracker and they will need to provide as much information as they possibly can. Their personal information will not go public, but it allows other people to know about those scams. It allows the media, the Federal Trade Commission, the Attorney General's Office to look at our website and see scams that are hitting the area, so that we can take a proactive approach to protecting consumers.

Speaker 2: 25:45

I'll tell you, ai is making financial frauds and scams a game changer, simply because you know it makes it harder and harder to detect. You know what is fraud and what is legitimate. You definitely don't want to ignore a legitimate communication from someplace from your financial institution, but it's almost scary. So I want to give you each an opportunity if you have websites, resources that our consumers can find handy or useful to help them prevent becoming a victim, or if they've become a victim. So I'll start with you, carmen BBB.

Speaker 4: 26:17

Okay, well, first of all, as I said, bbborg backslash scam tracker, not only to log a scam but to see what's hitting the area. We also do events to try to educate people on identity theft, financial scams, and we give out information then on how to protect yourself on identity theft, how to protect yourself from being a victim of a scam, how to be your first line of defense and not make it easy for a scammer to take advantage of you. But in any other case, you can contact the Better Business Bureau any day, or go to our website, bbborg, or go to our website, bbborg.

Speaker 1: 26:54

Like I've stated before, if you suspect ID theft IDtheftgov Again filing a police report report to the IC3Gov, even just pulling your annual credit report just to make sure everything looks legit with that you go to annualcreditreportcom to help with that. You go to annualcreditreportcom to help with that. And especially with our mail fraud that's definitely picking up. You want to report to your postal inspector and definitely be careful with mailing things out through the outside boxes. You definitely want to go inside to hopefully try to help prevent any theft from happening.

Speaker 2: 27:36

All right and Cherie any websites or resources.

Speaker 3: 27:40

I really encourage you know, like I said before, to get the Neighbors mobile app. I encourage e-statements as opposed to paper, because I think having paper statements can open you up to fraud, and so an e-statement we're not going to actually email you your statement, we're going to send you a notification that says it's ready, and then you would log in a secure channel. Another thing that I think is really great is biometrics, so that you know your mobile app is using your fingerprint or your face ID to open your account, and I think it's okay to save your user ID, but I don't. I ask people to be wary about saving their passwords. I know a lot of browsers will allow you to save your password. Now I don't suggest that with your online banking credentials.

Speaker 2: 28:25

Well, I think that's going to wrap us up for today. I definitely want to extend my gratitude to these three very knowledgeable ladies that have definitely enlightened me on some things about fraud out there, and obviously, if this episode can help at least just one person to be prevented from being a victim, then it was definitely worth having you, ladies, sit down with me today. Many scams use cell phones to target their next victim. Reducing spam calls to your cell phone can be challenging, but there are a few strategies that you can use to minimize that frequency. For starters, register with the National, do Not Call Registry. And yes, I realize that this is not going to be the end all or fix all, but if you add your number to the registry, it can eliminate some, if not all, of those calls.

Speaker 2: 29:17

Be cautious about sharing your number. Avoid giving out your cell phone number indiscriminately. Okay, use call blocking apps. They work wonderfully. Install a call blocking app and then that can also reduce the spam calls that come to your phone automatically. You'll never even get them to determine whether you should answer it or not. And finally, check out neighborsfcuorg. Forward slash financial education to learn more on how to use the money you have, make the money you need or save the money you want.