List of Scams & Frauds
Protect Yourself Against ScamsPostal Money Order Scams U.S. Postal Money Orders are the latest target for online fraud artists. Reshipping Fraud Reshipping Fraud is a home business scam that can cost you a lot of money. Business Lottery Scam This latest lottery scam involves businesses that have had their identities stolen. NCUA Email Scam Fraudulent email looks like it is from NCUA and prompts you to enter your personal Online Banking details. Telephone Phishing Telephone Phishing is a fraudulent attempt to capture card numbers and is done with an automated telephone service. The system randomly calls phone numbers and states they are the credit union. It asks the member to enter their 16 digit debit or credit card number, expiration date and PIN. SmiShing SmiShing is a cell phone scam where SMS (Short Message Service) messages are sent to your cell phone from a fictitious dating service. It includes a fake web site that if clicked on, will download a Trojan horse that could allow a web enabled phone to be controlled by hackers. Pretexting Pretexting is the practice of getting your personal information, such as your Social Security number (SSN), telephone records, bank or credit card numbers, or any other information, under false pretenses. Pharming Similar to phishing, pharming is a means for criminals to fraudulently gain access to your personal information. Verified by Visa® A phony Verified by Visa email is going around stating your credit card was violated. Jury Duty Call A person pretending to be a Jury Coordinator calls to tell you a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn’t show up for jury duty. Nationwide Verification Office A phone call scam to get consumers account information. CO-OP Network Fraudulent email looks like it is from CO-OP Network. Chimney Repair and Cleaning Scams Chimney repair cleaning scams are on the rise. Credit Union Web Sites Are Being Targeted for Phishing Scams Credit union web sites have been the subject of illegal phishing messages. The Five Steps to Take if Your Credit Card/Wallet is Stolen A list of things you should do now and what to do as soon as you discover the problem. Unclaimed Money, Property, and Funds There really is unclaimed money available. However, finding free or unclaimed money on the Net is one of the oldest scams in the book. Beware of Privacy Policies for Free Services Some organizations on the Internet offer free services such as Internet acceleration or email virus scanning. Some of those organizations have privacy policies that are so loosely defined to allow them to harvest and share information that is universally considered to be personal and highly sensitive by Internet users. 809 Area Code The 809 area code is located outside of the United States. The 809 area code can be used as a “pay-per-call” number, similar to 900 numbers in the US. Credit Card Telephone Scam Phony security from Visa or MasterCard will call and tell you your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern. Phishing High-tech thieves use phony emails and fake web sites to hook you into giving them your financial and personal information Lottery Scam Elderly households are being contacted by telephone and notified that they won a large lottery jackpot Pop Up Window – “PAINS” A phishing scam that sends official-looking but phony emails to Internet users Counterfeit Cashiers’ Checks A Twist on the Nigerian Money Scam Postal Money Order Scams How the scam works. You are contacted by email or online chat and are deceived into accepting fake money orders as payment for items you are selling, or cashing the orders in return for a fee. You are then asked to keep the cost of the purchase and send the balance back in cash along with the merchandise. When the money order bounces you will owe the total amount to your bank. This scam is typically found at online auction sites and through email solicitations. How do you protect yourself? Never accept a postal order from a stranger unless you have some way of verifying it’s authenticity, and watch out for offers asking you to pay more than something is worth. Reshipping Fraud Advertisements for reshipping job opportunities appear in many places such as newspapers and online job placement web sites. When you answer the ad you are asked to send the reshipping employer your personal information such as social security number and date of birth. After they have your information you will receive, repackage, and mail merchandise that was ordered online to a foreign address. Here’s the scam. The online merchandise was paid for with a stolen credit card number so now you are involved with the shipping and receiving of stolen items. Your payment is then sent to you as a third party cashier’s check which is for a larger amount than you initially agreed upon with your employer. You’re asked to cash the check and send the extra amount electronically to their overseas bank account. But before the check clears, the bank will realize it is a fake and you’ll be responsible for the entire amount of the check. Business Lottery Scam How it works. Victims receive documents stating that they’ve won $500,000 in the Australian lottery and a check for about $5,000 is enclosed. Instructions are included stating that in order to claim the prize, you need to cash the check and send a money order to offices in Canada and await further instructions. The scam is that the check is written on a business account that’s been the victim of identity theft, so by the time the money order has been sent, the check will bounce. Warning signs it’s a scam.
In order to protect yourself, never send a money order, cash, or check to claim a prize. NCUA Email Scam Some people have been receiving an email claiming to be from NCUA advising them to follow a link to what appears to be a NCUA web site, where they are prompted to enter their personal Online Banking details. NCUA is in no way involved in this email and the web site is not their web site. Please note that financial institutions, especially DCU, will never send an email requesting personal account information. Telephone Phishing Telephone and cell phone users are the latest target of hackers. Another credit union has recently reported a phishing scam they are experiencing. This new fraudulent attempt to capture card numbers is done with an automated telephone service. The system randomly calls phone numbers and states they are the credit union. It asks the member to enter their 16 digit debit or credit card number, expiration date and PIN. There are so many ways for perpetrators to attempt to get personal information. It is important to never release personal information in order to protect yourself from fraud. SmiShing Cell phone users are the latest target of hackers and have reported receiving SMS (Short Message Service) messages from a fictitious dating service. The messages say the recipient has signed up for the service and informs them they will be charged $2 a day until they cancel the order at their web site. If you click on this fake web site, it will download a Trojan horse that could allow a web enabled phone to be controlled by hackers. Phishers must pay for each SMS text message sent out. So the money made from victims must be substantial enough to justify these fees. SmiShing is costly to people who have not yet learned to use their cell phones with the same level of caution they apply to their computers. Pretexting Imagine getting a phone call from someone at a reputable sounding research firm asking you to participate in a survey. The questions they ask seem harmless, but in reality, you may have just been a victim of pretexting. Pretexting is the practice of getting your personal information, such as your Social Security number (SSN), telephone records, bank or credit card numbers, or any other information, under false pretenses. In other words, a pretexter pretends they are someone else to obtain your personal information. Once they obtain this information the pretexter may be able to access your financial records, sell it to scammer, or use your information to commit identity theft. Recommendations to Protect Yourself from Pretexting
Pharming Similar to phishing, pharming is a means for criminals to fraudulently gain access to your personal information. Pharmers simply redirect you from the legitimate web site you intended to visit and lead you instead to their phony site. The pharming site, that you are redirected to without your knowledge, looks the same as a legitimate site. If you enter your login name and password, the information is captured by criminals. New security measures are being developed to stop hackers from hijacking legitimate web sites but until then watch out for pharming scams. Verified by Visa® A phony Verified by Visa email is going around stating your credit card was violated. It continues that someone from Bulgaria tried to access your personal account from two different ATMs but used the wrong PIN. The email tells you they were forced to freeze your credit card until you will confirm your identity online through the attached link in the email. When you click on the link it asks you to enter your account information to confirm that you are not currently away. Otherwise your account will be locked if you do not comply with this in three days. Don’t fall for this very legitimate looking scam email. Jury Duty Call Most of us take jury duty summons seriously, but a new scam has surfaced. A person pretending to be a Jury Coordinator calls to tell you a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn’t show up for jury duty. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security Number and date of birth to supposedly verify the information and cancel the warrant. Give out this information and your identity just got stolen. Don’t fall for this intimidation over the phone. Nationwide Verification Office A company calling itself the Nationwide Verification Office calls consumers and asks for account information so that it can be deleted from a so-called federal banking system. Consumers were asked to verify their bank account number as well as the bank routing numbers found at the bottom of their checks. Don’t be scammed by this phone call. CO-OP Network If you receive an email that looks like it is from CO-OP Network asking for your cardholder information, please note the email is fraudulent as CO-OP Network never contacts credit union members directly and never requests personal account information. The email should be considered a deceitful attempt to obtain cardholder information. CO-OP Network has notified the proper law enforcement authorities and are working with the internet service provider to shut down the fraudulent site. Chimney Repair and Cleaning Scams Chimney repair cleaning scams are on the rise. Since most people know nothing about chimneys, this is a particularly easy way for scammers to cheat unsuspecting homeowners. The scammer contacts you and offers a special on chimney cleaning for a low price, such as $39.95. If you’ve just moved into a new home, they may say the previous residents used their company. Upon inspection they tell you there is structural damage, or that you need new chimney caps. These con artists usually focus on concerns about carbon monoxide poisoning. Realistically, carbon monoxide leakage in chimneys is quite rare. There are instruments that prove carbon monoxide leakage – if you hear this claim, make sure it can be proved. How do you protect yourself? Here are some tips from the National Chimney Sweep Guild and the Chimney Safety Institute of America:
Credit Union Web Sites Are Being Targeted for Phishing Scams Numerous credit union web sites have been subject to illegal phishing messages emailed to credit union members and non-members to collect their User Name and Password information. Do not click on the link to the fake web site and do not click on the link telling you that the credit union’s information is out-of-date or incomplete. Instead delete the message. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has also been a recent target of phishing emails and this email is still in circulation. The NCUA has taken the appropriate steps to safeguard their site and shut down any phishing sites. If you receive this email, do not respond and delete this email. The Five Steps to Take if Your Credit Card/Wallet is Stolen Step 1. This something you should do now: Make photocopies (front and back) of all your credit cards, ID cards and licenses in your wallet. List your account numbers and the toll free phone numbers you’d need to call to report them missing. Keep this photocopy in a separate, safe place. Step 2. Call the companies that issued your credit cards to report the theft. Do this as soon as you discover the problem. Use the toll free number; most companies are available 24 hours a day to deal with these emergencies. Write down the name of each person you speak with. It’s a good idea to follow up each of your phone calls with a letter. Summarize your phone conversation, including your name, account number, when you noticed that your card was missing, the date you first reported the loss via phone, and the name of the person you spoke with. Step 3. Call the three national credit-reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) to report the theft, and ask them to attach a fraud alert to all your credit cards. Step 4. If your social security card is missing, call the Social Security Administration (fraud line) at 800.269.0271. Also, call the Motor Vehicles Bureau about your driver’s license, as well as any other organizations from which you lost cards. Step 5. Call the police in the jurisdiction where your credit cards were stolen to report the theft. Unclaimed Money, Property, and Funds How it works. There really is unclaimed money available. However, finding free or unclaimed money on the Net is one of the oldest scams in the book. One email unclaimed money scam starts off: “There’s over 400 billion dollars in unclaimed money – and some of it belongs to you!” They will help you locate your unclaimed money. All you need to do is call this particular 1-809 number. The company claims that they’ll do a search for free. What they don’t tell you is that they’re going to make money on that 1-809 phone number for starters. They also don’t tell you that they’ll send you a refined search that includes your last name and first initial in an official looking database list, and that although they can’t guarantee it’s you, you’ll need to pay a fee or buy a membership before they’ll check any further. Others charge the fee even if they only locate $2.64 and still others are aimed at getting your personal information in order to commit identity theft. The good news is that you can do this research for free through state-sanctioned unclaimed funds registries and see if there really is unclaimed money or property owed to you. Beware of Privacy Policies for Free Services How it works. Some organizations on the Internet offer free services such as Internet acceleration or email virus scanning. Some of those organizations have privacy policies that are so loosely defined to allow them to harvest and share information that is universally considered to be personal and highly sensitive by Internet users. Such organizations ask unwitting end users to configure their browsers to cause all web traffic, including highly sensitive encrypted secure traffic to be decrypted, pass through that organization’s servers to be harvested and then continue on to its intended destination. Hence, information that is thought by the end user to be inaccessible to everyone except the intended recipient is collected, and according to liberal privacy policies, may be shared by the intermediaries with unnamed third parties. This dangerous situation is made worse by the fact that end users’ efforts to uninstall such software on their computers has been designed so that it will often fail, leaving what amounts to a back door by the organization to usurp what are supposed to be private communications in the future. It is important that Internet users know that those Internet companies that use technologies to intercept encrypted communications have full access to end users’ personal information and have publicly stated that they can share users’ information with third parties. One organization installs its own trusted root certificates, so that it can intercept secure (SSL) connections made by the end user machine. Their privacy policy states: … monitors all of your Internet behavior, including both the normal web browsing you perform, and also the activity you may have through secure sessions, such as when filling a shopping basket or filling out an application form that may contain personal financial and health information… … monitor the Internet connections of our users so we can not only accurately and anonymously model the browsing habits of Internet users, but also their shopping, registration, and other interactions as well… … In addition to the monitoring of your Internet behavior, we may also combine the information that you provide us with information such as credit or prescription information that we obtain from third parties such as consumer preference reporting companies, credit reporting agencies, and prescription benefits managers…. … There are some limited cases in which we share personally identifiable information with third parties. Specifically, we provide personally identifiable information to third parties for the purpose of conducting the secure and confidential matches discussed more fully above…. 809 Area Code How the scam works. You will receive a message on your answering machine or your pager, which asks you to call a number beginning with area code 809. The reason you’re asked to call varies. In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. They or a message will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges. Why it works. The 809 area code is located outside of the United States. The 809 area code can be used as a “pay-per-call” number, similar to 900 numbers in the US. Since 809 is not in the US, it is not covered by U.S. regulations of 900 numbers. There is also no requirement that the company provide a time period during which you may terminate the call without being charged. Be cautious if you are asked to call an 809 area code number. Credit Card Telephone Scam How the scam works. You will receive a telephone call saying they are from the Security and Fraud Department at either Visa or MasterCard. They will tell you your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern. In one instance they asked if a Anti-Telemarketing Device for $497.99 was purchased from a marketing company based in Arizona?” When you say “No,” the caller continues with, “Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from $297 to $497” (just under the $500 purchase pattern that flags most cards). The caller continues, “I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 800 number listed on the back of your card and ask for Security. You will need to refer to this Control #.” The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. Here’s the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then says he needs to verify you are in possession of your card. He’ll ask you to turn your card over and look for some numbers. There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are your card number, the next 3 are the ‘Security Numbers’ that verify you are in possession of the card. After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he’ll say, “That is correct. I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen.” Phishing How the scam works. High-tech thieves use phony emails and fake web sites to hook you into giving them your financial and personal information. Phishing is an e-mail scam involving thieves who pretend to be a legitimate business such as a financial institution, credit card company, etc. They send out official-looking e-mails and set up bogus web sites to trick you into giving them your account numbers and other sensitive data. In most cases, they will use a “hook” such as an account problem alert or fraud warning to reel you in to convince you there is an immediate need to update your financial or personal information. Learn more about Phishing from this recent Visa® Newsletter. Lottery Scam How the scam works. Elderly households are being contacted by telephone and notified that they won a large lottery jackpot, usually between $250,000 and $500,000. Elderly residents are the target of this scam that takes thousands of dollars from their savings accounts while giving them false hopes of collecting a large lottery jackpot. What went wrong. To collect their prize, the victims are asked to wire anywhere from $3,000 to upwards of $50,000 through Western Union or MoneyGram to cover administrative costs or taxes. The initial phone call is usually followed up with a second call a few days later, requesting more money because of a glitch in delivering the jackpot. The phone calls usually originate in Canada from untraceable, disposable mobile phones. The caller asks that the money be wired overseas, to countries such as Israel, Bosnia or Poland. This is the second suspected lottery scam to crop up. Police recently issued a warning about El Gordo Spanish Sweepstake Lottery Co. S.A., which asks so-called winners for bank account numbers and other personal information so they may collect a fictitious $600,000 lottery prize. Pop Up Window – “PAINS” How the scam works. You have just received an email from your financial institution advising you that an internal security breach has occurred. You are told that while everything has been stabilized it still may be a good idea for you to visit the company web site to change your personal information. You immediately click on the hyperlink inside the email and instantly you are transferred to your financial institution’s web site. As you enter your login information a pop up window appears with fields for your debit card number, current PIN, and a new PIN. You provide the requested information, click enter and receive notification that your information has been changed. What went wrong. Consumers complying with this request to protect their information are not aware that they have just fallen prey to the latest Internet scam that is becoming widespread. Affecting thousands of consumers, it may take days or weeks to realize that your account has been tampered with and that money is missing from your account. Phishing scams send large amounts of official-looking email to Internet users, hoping that many are actually the customers of some of the large corporations targeted by criminals. The emails alert the consumer to pending problems in order to get them to visit what is commonly referred to as a “Spoof” web site. Counterfeit Cashiers’ Checks – A Twist on the Nigerian Money Scam How the scam works. You have a valuable item for sale at one of the online sales or auction sites. A potential customer contacts you from overseas. Let’s say you’ve advertised a car for $2,000. They want to buy your car. To pay for it, they’d like to have a creditor in the U.S. who owes them $7,200 send you a cashier’s check for that amount. You deposit that check in your account and when it’s cleared, they’ll trust you to wire that money to them. What went wrong. You receive the cashier’s check for $7,200. It appears to be drawn on a legitimate financial institution. You withdraw $5,200 and wire it by Western Union to the overseas address. In the next week to three weeks, the cashier’s check is returned as counterfeit. The total $7,200 plus fees is taken from your account and you may be suspected of fraud. |
Source: dcu.org