fraud and scams
Be on Alert. Stay informed. Protect yourself.
When it comes to fraud prevention, knowledge is power. Fraudsters steal billions of dollars from innocent consumers each year. They use the internet, email, text messaging, postal mail, and the telephone to trick consumers and/or steal their information.
Common Warning Signs
Scams are often hard to detect at a quick glance; however, these common red flags can help. Keep in mind…it is not uncommon for fraudsters to use intimidation tactics and urgent requests.
•Don’t always trust the display name -criminals will spoof the email name to appear to be a legitimate sender
•Check for misspelled words, bad grammar, and/or typos within the content
•Be cautious of clicking links and opening attachments-DON'T CLICK unless you are confident of the sender or expecting the attachment
•Asking you to share a one-time passcode sent to your device (when they called you)
•Check the salutation -many legitimate businesses will use a personal salutation
•Do not provide personal information when asked
•Be suspicious of "urgent" or "immediate" response needed or "unauthorized login attempt" of your account
•Don’t believe everything you see. Brand logos, names and addresses may appear legitimate
•The recipient group seems random or unusual (e.g. all last names begin with the same letter)
•The email appears to be a reply to a message that you didn’t actually send
•Monitor the sender’s email address for suspicious URLs & domains –often using similar letters and numbers
•If something seems suspicious; contact that source with a new email or phone call, rather than just hitting reply
•Always, be wary of tempting offers
Select a topic below to learn more on several different popular scams.