October is Fraud Awareness Month
COMMON RED FLAGS
- Unexpected Contact
- Urgency
- Unusual Payment
- Scams often use fake emails, text messages, voice calls, letters or someone who shows up at your front door unexpectedly.
- If you are pressured to send money quickly (limited-time offers) or threatened with law enforcement action, something is likely off
- Examples include purchasing a gift card and providing the code, or depositing a check and returning the overpayment.
Common scam types:
Payment scams
Be wary if you are urged to make a purchase with the promise of compensation, or if someone offers to make a payment for you or provides you with bank account info with which to make a payment. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you use a payment method you are not familiar with, you run the risk of ultimately being held responsible for the amount paid.
Tech support scams
Tech support claims your computer has malware and requests payment to fix the defects or access your computer.
Employment scams
Be vigilant in validating employment opportunities, especially when exclusively online or working from home. Be suspicious if someone claims to have overpaid you for a job, promises to reimburse for equipment, or asks you to send equipment to an IT dept. The equipment may never be returned, and reimbursements or overpayments may be illegitimate, leaving you liable for the funds. Never divulge personal information online to an unreliable source or through a deceptive job.
Impersonation scams
Scammers pose as a legitimate financial institution (like Bayer HFCU) or a utility company and request personal information or a payment transfer in order to make things "right" on your account. They might also use a fake caller ID that could show up as a legit company's number and/ or request remote access to your device. A scammer posing as a utility company might warn you to pay your balance within a limited time or else the utility will be shut off.
Fake rental
A house is legitimately listed for sale online, but scammers have set up a fake website and listed the house as a rental. You send your first month’s deposit to a scammer pretending to be the landlord/owner.
Suspect you’ve been a victim of a scam? Here’s what you do.
For BHFCU account and BHFCU debit/credit card concerns, contact us at 1-800-272-6003.
Report a scam to the BBB Scam Tracker and the government via the FTC ReportFraud site. You may also want to report scammers directly to the FBI.
