Keep Your Information Safe from Scams and Fraud
Podcast Transcription
Money Talk is a podcast brought to you by PFCU where we will share tips and tricks and talk to the experts on all things finance related. Join us as we cover everything from credit and loans to cyber security and careers. No matter where you are in life, PFCU is here for you.
Maddy: You’re going to be a podcast pro by the time we’re done with these, right? This is what, your third?
Liz: Yeah.
Maddy: Yes, this is the third time I’ve been joined by Liz, thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me so often. These quarterly safety and security newsletters that Liz sends out to the PFCU staff are just packed full of so much helpful information and I’m so happy that she sits down with me each quarter to share that with all of you. This quarter we focus on scams and fraud, so, let’s jump in and let’s welcome Liz!
Liz: Hi, my name is Liz and I am the Executive Administrative Assistant here at PFCU. So, today we’re going to talk about scams and fraud that members are facing. We have people that see this every day and we just want everyone to be aware of what’s out there and what is happening. One of the scams that still see a lot is romance scams. This is usually an online relationship that turns out to not be true. Members continue to fall for this scam. They’re often tricked into compromising their online banking credentials and this can lead to fraudulent checks through our mobile deposit capture and loss of funds from members so it’s just not a good situation to be in.
Maddy: Not a good idea.
Liz: No.
Maddy: And I, I think I read online that people sometimes believe they’re true because of the time the scammer takes to like build your trust. Like, they wouldn’t be talking to me for 6 months or a year if it wasn’t real, right, like…
Liz: Exactly!
Maddy: They didn’t ask me until this deep into the relationship and I say that with quotations because, you know, they’re just trying to scam you but it’s just interesting, like, they sink some time into, you know, what they’re trying to get out of you.
Liz: Yeah, it’s not like its day 2 of online communicating, like…
Maddy: Right!
Liz: Yeah, I just, there’s a lot of time put into it.
Maddy: Yeah, yeah.
Liz: So…
Maddy: So be aware of that, for sure.
Liz: Yes.
Maddy: Alright, what’s the next one?
Liz: The next one is check fraud. One thing I learned when talking with our fraud department is check fraud is actually more of a broad term than I realized, there’s a lot of different situations. So, part of check fraud can be romance scams that we just talked about, car wraps scams where people are told that they should get, like, advertisements put on their cars and they’re going to receive funds and it’s not a real scenario. And then also card cracking and this one is interesting. So, card cracking is when someone gives or sells someone their credit card number and their PIN number. So, the scammer will deposit bad checks in the ATM and then immediately start spending the funds that are deposited before the check has cleared. The member is coached and knows what to say, such as, you don’t see me in the security footage of the ATM and the member is usually compensated in this scenario which makes them a criminal accomplish, so they can be in just as much trouble as the person who’s actually doing the fraud.
Maddy: Wow.
Liz: I didn’t realize that this was happening.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: And it’s sad.
Maddy: It is!
Liz: Because people are probably, you know, there’s troubled times in the economy right now and then this happens.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: And they end up in a lot of trouble.
Maddy: Yes, and people are so, I think you just want to believe the good in people, like, and like you said, if you’re in desperate times and you just believe that someone could never do this to you and then you end up getting in trouble yourself, that’s, that’s crazy.
Liz: Exactly. I know, and I just, yeah, not something that we want to wish on anyone so…
Maddy: Yeah, yeah.
Liz: The next fraud is card fraud, I think a lot of us are familiar with this, it’s for both your debit card, your credit card. We continue to see cards being used for transactions that were not authorized by the member and cardholder. I know, I think we’ve talked about this product several times but I always gotta talk about SecurLOCK Equip because it’s a great tool to help limit fraud threats to a card that you can have on your phone and also the e-alerts when a transaction gets processed, that way if unfortunately you are part of card fraud you’re aware of it sooner and can take those steps with the credit union to get it taken care of or you can also set limits and notifications to hopefully stop fraud even sooner.
Maddy: Yeah, I actually, my daycare, I dropped my kids off this morning, I left my debit card there because I had paid for daycare and left it.
Liz: Oh no!
Maddy: Thankfully they called and like, locked it up for me.
Liz: Yeah.
Maddy: But like, that can happen to anyone, like, you just accidentally leave your card somewhere, then you could just easily turn it off to make sure that if someone who has bad intentions finds it…
Liz: Oh, for sure.
Maddy: …they can’t use it.
Liz: And it’s nice that you can turn it right back on when you have it again.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: Instead of waiting for a new card, that you know, that can take a few weeks, so it’s not as inconvenient as well.
Maddy: Right, yeah.
Liz: And then the next part of scams and fraud that we want to talk about is cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency seems to be becoming more and more popular, more people are getting involved in it. And this is a type of fraud that we’re still learning about and understanding but usually in these scenarios, a scammer likes it when someone gives them cryptocurrency. We’ve all heard about scammers buying the prepaid cards, but now they’re also looking for the cryptocurrency. It’s not traceable, when the money is gone, it’s gone so it’s another way of payment that they are using.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: So, just something to be aware of, especially if you are not participating in cryptocurrency at all right now, if that gets brought up, that would be huge red flag as well.
Maddy: Right. If you have nothing to do it with it…
Liz: Yes.
Maddy: Yeah.
Liz: Exactly. And doing research and learning more about the scams and fraud, I found some interesting statistics and the one that really stood out to me was that the FTC reported that consumers lost more than $5.8 billion to fraud in 2021, which was an increase of more than 70% from 2020.
Maddy: Oh my gosh, that’s wild!
Liz: It is!
Maddy: 70%!
Liz: So, you know working at the credit union, we hear a lot about fraud and it’s part of our daily lives and our tasks that we have to learn about but to know that it’s so broad out there, like, it’s not just here that we’re hearing about it.
Maddy: Right.
Liz: It’s everywhere.
Maddy: Everywhere.
Liz: Yes, so, I just thought those numbers were very large and very surprising.
Maddy: For sure.
Liz: So…
Maddy: Yeah. Well, thank you. I think this will help members and non-members protect their information and we do have some great products and services to help them do that.
Liz: Yes!
Maddy: I appreciate it!
Liz: Thank you for having me!
Maddy: Yeah, of course!
Money Talk is a podcast brought to you by PFCU. PFCU offers many products and services to fit your needs, from our various loan and account options to our team of financial coaches to help you reach your goals. Make sure to take advantage of the many conveniences PFCU offers such as the mobile app, mobile wallets, bill pay and more. Visit our website at PFCU the number four me dot com to learn more. PFCU is an equal housing lender and is federally insured by the NCUA.