Always stay alert for suspicious phone calls and texts pretending to be from your financial institution or card company. With this type of scam, members will receive a call claiming that a suspicious transaction has occurred on their account and needs to be verified. The customer is then prompted to verify their card and personal information to the caller, who is actually a fraudster.
All consumers are reminded that banks or the police will never contact you asking for your card number or personal information.
How to stay safe:
Never give out any personal information if you are at all suspicious. Instead stop and think, and then contact your financial institution directly on a number that you can trust, such as the one on their official website
- Be wary of any calls, texts or emails purporting to be from your financial institution.
- Remember that a genuine bank will never call you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account.
- If you feel something is suspicious or feel vulnerable, hang up and then call your financial institution or card issuer (number on the back of your card) on their advertised number to report the fraud.
Five things to look out for on a scam phone call:
- The caller doesn’t give you time to think, tries to stop you speaking to a family member or friend or is insistent and makes you feel uncomfortable.
- The caller asks you to transfer money to a new account for fraudulent reasons.
- The caller asks for your card PIN, full card number or your online banking password. Even if they ask you to give it to them by tapping into the telephone keypad rather than saying the numbers out loud, this is a scam.