How to identify bank impersonation scams
In today’s digital age, it’s crucial to stay vigilant against financial fraud, especially as criminals are getting more sophisticated in their scams. Among these are bank impersonation scams, where fraudsters pose as your bank representative and try to get you to reveal sensitive personal information like your passwords or PINs, or transfer money directly to them. If you have any concerns that you’re not speaking with who you think you are, you should disengage and call the bank directly using a number you can trust typically found on the back of your card or account statement. By educating yourself on the common tactics used by scammers, you can better protect your personal information and financial assets.
Common tactics used in bank impersonation scams
Scammers can use a few different tactics to execute a bank impersonation scam. Three of the most common forms include:
- Phone spoofing: Scammers manipulate caller ID to show your bank’s phone number, making it look like the call is authentic. They’ll often try to claim there’s been suspicious activity on your account or some urgent security issue that pressures you to act immediately. If this happens, hang up right away and connect with your bank directly to verify if there are any issues with your account (using the number on the back of your card or account statement i.e., don’t just redial the last received call). It’s important to verify if there are any issues with your account.
- Phishing emails and text messages: Scammers use texts or emails that look very similar to official communications from your bank, especially at first glance. These typically try to alert you to a security or account issue, urging you to click on malicious links in the body of the message or respond with personal information.
When using email, you should review the sender’s full email address, as scammers tend to have suspicious addresses that look more like a personal email (shopping5869@gmail.com) or the domain name has extra numbers and/or letters (I.E. sender@0nlinesh0ping.com).
When you see links, you can review where the link is pointing to by moving your mouse cursor over a link on your computer or by performing a long press or tap-and-hold on the link when you are on your mobile device to display the full URL. These features allow users to preview the destination of the link before clicking on it, helping to provide transparency if the links lead to a trusted site.
- Fake websites: Scammers create elaborate, fake websites that mimic bank’s official site. These are often linked in phishing messages, and when you try to log in to your account to “resolve the issue”, the fake site can capture your username and passwords. This potentially allows the scammers to take over your account. Carefully examine the URL before entering any sensitive information – Ask yourself are there any odd characters that don’t belong (for example, the URL reads “transf3r” rather than “transfer”)? Look to make sure you see a lock icon in the web address bar and/or the URL start with “https” indicating that the connection between your browser and the website is encrypted and secure, preventing others from intercepting and reading your data in transit. Is the site hosted by the official bank website? For instance, official Chase URLs will generally start with https://www.chase.com/.
Emotional manipulation and fear tactics
A common theme you’ll notice is the element of urgency. Scammers are masters of psychological and emotional manipulation. They use fear tactics and try to rush you along to overwhelm your critical thinking skills. Disorientation is a deliberate part of the design.
Warning signs of a banking scam
Scammers rely on fear, urgency, and the promise of a quick solution to bypass your better judgement. Recognizing the red flags that mark potential bank impersonation scams is one of the best ways to help protect yourself. Here are some examples of suspicious activity:
- Unsolicited contact: If you get an unsolicited call or text from your bank regarding an urgent issue, treat it with caution, you can always hang up and call back using the contact info found on the back of your card or account statement.
- Urgent or threatening language: Scammers create a crisis scenario involving your account to fabricate a sense of urgency and pressure you into acting quickly and irrationally. They may say there is fraud on your account or even threaten legal action or financial penalties if you don’t comply. If you’re feeling pressured and uncertain, it’s safest to hang up and call your bank or go to a branch for assistance.
- Requests to transfer money to a “new” account: An unfortunately common scam is one in which the scammers tell you there was fraudulent activity on your account and that they’ve oh-so-helpfully set up a “new” account for you to put your remaining funds into, so you don’t lose those too. In some cases, they might make a request for you to make a Zelle® or wire transfer or offer to help you set up your new account via a digital wallet. These new accounts inevitably belong to the scammers. Unfortunately, once the money is sent, it’s unlikely you will get the money back.
- Request your help in a ‘sting operation” In a slightly more sophisticated spin, impostor scammers may go so far as to claim that an employee from your local branch was implicated in fraud involving your account, citing this as the reason you need to initiate a transfer into a new account or digital wallet. They may also tell you to lie to other bank employees about why you’re making this transfer or withdrawal, claiming that other employees could also be in on the scam. No reputable bank would ask you to do this.
- Requests for remote access: If someone claiming to be from your bank asks for remote access to any of your devices or accounts to “fix” an issue, it’s most likely a scammer trying to access your accounts.
Tips to help protect yourself from imposter scams
Being proactive and precautious is the name of the game when defending yourself against imposter scams. Some smart habits to adopt include:
- Being cautious of any unsolicited contact: While your bank will sometimes need to get in touch with you, it’s good practice to be careful and observant. If something feels off, contacting your bank independently to ensure the communication’s authenticity is a good way to be safe rather than sorry.
- Verify if the communication is legitimate: After receiving a suspicious communication, the safe approach is to hang up or close out the message. Then, you can independently verify if the message was real or not by contacting your bank via a trusted number (from the number on your card or account statement, for example), their official website or their official mobile app. Never use the phone number, website link or email provided by the suspicious caller or sender to contact your bank.
- Avoid sharing sensitive information: As a matter of generally good personal security practice, it’s best not to share your passwords, PINs, account numbers, social security number or any other sensitive personal information with anyone. Recent scams have gotten extremely sophisticated as a tremendous amount of data is available for scammers to use to convince you that they must be who they say they are. Unfortunately, this is happening because of the number of data breaches over the years. Also, new technology allows scammers the ability to clone your loved ones’ voices which makes it incredibly hard to determine who you are really talking to. You should hang up and call your loved one directly using the number you know is theirs.
- Monitor your accounts regularly: Keeping a close eye on your accounts by reading your monthly statements and periodically logging in to give everything a quick scan helps you notice any potential discrepancies, which you should promptly report. Using your bank’s official mobile app can help you do this anywhere, anytime. The Chase Mobile® app also lets you set up custom alerts so you can help spot unusual activity.
- Stay informed about the latest scams: Scams evolve with technology, so it helps to stay on top of the latest scam trends. Most major banks and several consumer watchdog agencies share regular updates on these matters along with providing the latest scams happening now.
- Remain calm and collected: Impostor scammers need to instill panic for their manipulative tactics to take hold. If you suspect something is fishy or you’re feeling pressured, take a deep breath, hang up the call or close out the message, and then contact your bank on your own through official channels. Even if there were some legitimate issues with your account, there are virtually no circumstances under which a real bank representative would pressure you to do anything immediately, especially transfer funds.
What to do if you suspect a scam
Even with a knowledge of the warning signs, it’s unfortunately still possible to find yourself in a situation where you’re being targeted by a banking scam. If this happens, there are some immediate steps to take to help prevent or limit further damage to your finances:
- If you were contacted over the phone, hang up. As soon as you suspect something, stop engaging any further. Don’t try to close out the conversation, just hang up.
- If you were contacted through email or text, do not click any links, or open any attachments. If you are suspicious of an email or text, don’t click on any links or attachments. If you’re on a computer, you can typically hover your mouse over a link to see what URL it’s pointing to without clicking on it. This could help you identify if it’s pointing to an official website or not.
- Contact your bank right away using official channels. After cutting off the suspected communication, call your bank using the number found on your card, account statements, or the bank’s official mobile app or website. Explain what happened and the representative on the line can help walk you through some precautionary next steps like setting up alerts for your account or identity monitoring services.
- Consider changing your passwords and PINs. If you happened to provide any login information, change your username and password on that account as well as any other accounts that might use the same login information. This can help prevent identity theft.
- Keep a close watch on your accounts. Regularly scanning your accounts is good practice and can help spot unusual activity.
How to report an imposter scam
Reporting scams is a way to help protect yourself and help authorities catch criminals, preventing others from falling victim, too. If you’re a Chase customer, start by visiting the Security Center. Here you can find contact information to report fraud directly with one of our representatives, as well as other helpful resources like potential next steps and educational materials from sources like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Additionally, you can visit ReportFraud.ftc.gov to file a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC collects these reports and shares them with relevant local law enforcement. You can also try filing a complaint with your state Attorney General’s office, which may even have a designated consumer protection division. If you believe you’ve been the victim of identity theft, you can add a freeze or put a fraud alert with the three credit bureaus. Also consider filing a police report with local law enforcement. IdentityTheft.gov is also a useful resource that can help you plan your next steps.
In summary
Protecting yourself from bank impersonation scams takes vigilance and a proactive approach. When it comes to your sensitive personal and financial information, it’s safer to cut off any communications the minute you suspect something and then verify it independently. Reputable banks won’t ask you to transfer money as a way to resolve fraud. Staying informed about the tactics scammers use, trusting your instincts and checking things out for yourself go a long way toward helping to keep you and your finances safe.