Tips & Tricks for Avoiding Scams

Trick the Scammers & Follow These Tips

• Stay Alert: Did you know that scammers will try passwords on accounts months after they have taken that information? You should never reuse passwords, especially if you have been a victim of a scam. Reusing the same passwords for different accounts increases the risk of your information being stolen.
• Mid-year Review: How often do you review your financial situation? This would include looking at your monthly income, expenses, savings goals and emergency funds. If you don't look at this monthly, make a point to do a mid-year review in July. Take the time to review and see what changes you may want to make.  See if making mid-year changes helps to keep up with the goals you have set for the year.
  
• Protect Your Email: Scammers frequently target your email to gain access to other accounts. Enhance your security by utilizing a password manager and enabling two-factor authentication. These straightforward measures can significantly boost your protection and minimize risk. Remember to change your passwords regularly and avoid reusing them. 
• Time For Changing Your Password: Make your password complex by using special characters, upper and lower case letters and numbers to make it harder for scammers to guess.  
• Help Keep Fraud Away: Monitoring your account on a daily basis not only keeps you informed about your transactions but also serves as an effective method to prevent potential fraud.  By reviewing your account each day, you can catch unauthorized transactions early and prevent them from repeatedly debiting your account
• Set Limits: Did you know that you can set spending limits right from your mobile app? It can deny any transaction that exceeds the limit you set on your card. Also set up alerts so you are notified if your account goes below a certain amount or when transactions are made from your account. 

• Arrest Warrant Scam: Scammers are spoofing the numbers of Sheriff’s Offices, calling victims to falsely inform them that they have an outstanding warrant for failing to appear for jury duty and must address the matter immediately. If the victim requests to call someone else, they are told they cannot call anyone, including family, friends, or their local sheriff’s department, due to a supposed “gag order.” Victims are then directed to withdraw cash and deposit it into a Coinhub ATM, using a QR code provided by the scammer.

  Always Remember

  • No legitimate law enforcement agency will demand payment to resolve a warrant.
  • If you receive such a call, hang up immediately.
  • Contact your local law enforcement agency instead.
  • Never use a Coinhub ATM for payment of any fees, as it may lead to losing your money with no possibility of recovery. 

   

• Cryptocurrency Scams: Scammers use social media platforms and dating apps to trick their victims into investing in fake cryptocurrency sites. They earn your trust and help you invest your money into cryptocurrency and even show you fake profit reports so you add more to the new investment. When trying to withdraw funds, the bogus companies vanish before you can receive anything back.
• Scam Waiver Letter: Community members have been receiving a FINAL NOTICE letter which threatens to revoke an allocated waiver associated with you and the bank you may or may not currently be using. Please DO NOT call the number listed or respond to this letter in any manner. The number provided will connect you directly to a scammer. If you have any questions, please reach out to your bank for assistance.
• AI Voice Cloning and Deepfakes: An AI deepfake is an AI-generated video image or audio recording that appears real but is a forgery.  Most of the time it depicts a familiar person. Technology using "deep learning" (hence "deepfakes") is being used to create these highly realistic videos and audios to mislead people into giving out personal information. Be cautious when receiving calls from "known" people asking for personal information or any amount of money.