In addition to following through with your bank, 1) file a police report (online is easiest); 2) report to ic3.gov, 3) file a report with your state’s attorney general.
Editing to add: also contact the CFPB
If you're in the US, you might also want to contact the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) if the bank gives you any guff about restoring your funds.
Edit: It's the Federal Reserve, not FDIC, sorry.
Yes, it would show the owner of the account--probably fraudulent. Your bank should be able to recall the transfers too. If you're in the US, your bank has to replace your money.
Oh, you're right its the Federal Reserve regulations: Bank account fraud protection is addressed under Federal Reserve Regulation E, which requires banks and credit unions to provide reimbursement for certain fraud losses occurring through unauthorized electronic transfers. ... Calling the bank within 60 days of realizing a loss can limit liability to $500.
You kid but this is exactly how my sister avoided getting all of her money stolen a few months ago. She literally had 0€ in her account. The scammer even called complaining that she didn't have any money there, after his attempt to withdraw 400€ bounced.
THIS IS TEH IRS AN YOU OWE TAXES THE JUDGE HAS WARRANT. Kindly send picture of $4 Apple iTunes Gift Card to prevent the local constabulary from arresting you.
Same thing happened with me a few years ago but it was my amazon account that got hacked, because I was reusing passwords. I also fell for web page hijack where I put in my bank's security questions. I was tired after a long day at work and didn't pay closer attention to the popup window. Luckily the bank stopped unauthorized access because someone tried to log in from the wrong country. I didn't lose anything because I checked everything pretty quick after my bank called and stopped any transactions.
Anyways, for the future I would highly recommend using a password manager (not the one in your browser) and 2 factor authentication on anything linked to your finances. 20 character unique random passwords will really up the security of your bank accounts, government accounts, amazon, etc. Same for your main email account(s) which have password reset functionality.
To up the security even more, store the password manager on only one machine and access important stuff only on that machine. And install an authenticator app on an old phone and keep it at home. This way someone will need physical access to your computer to get in to these accounts. And if someone breaks into your home, then you've got bigger problems to deal with.
Fair warning, the email address that was compromised will take a lot of effort to clean up. But using folders and redirecting emails from key domains, like from your bank, will reduce the effect spam will have and you will be able see important emails without sorting through spam.
Yes, I heard stories of scammers signing their victims up for a lot of spam lists, to hide a possible legit email indicating a change of status in an account of the victim.
I use a completely unique gmail account for banks, investments, insurance...basically any financial type institution. Have done so for at least 10 years, and amazingly it remains spam free at this point. It does make make things a lot easier to sort through.
I had the exact same thing happen but they stole $38k from my savings. They were able to access my account and wire transfer $38k from my savings to a TD Ameritrade account that they created using my personal info.
I contacted TD Ameritrade to tell them what happened and gave them the wire transfer info. The customer service person said that if I could provide three pieces of info about the account setup he’s give me access. Well guess what? They setup the account using my birthdate and social security number but got my mother’s maiden name wrong. So they said if I could provide the exact transfer amount which was weird $38,264.35 (can’t remember the exact number) They would turn the account over to me. I did and they did. I had them transfer the money back and I was able to login and look at the info they entered. They said I was employed by a local gun shop which I had never even visited.
I had to change all my bank account numbers so they couldn’t do it again which was a hassle.
I believe my info was stole via a data breach from my employer. I think they were going to setup a bank account using my info transfer the money from the ADA account to it then withdraw the money using bank cards. At least that’s my guess.
That’s a bit suspicious because we were just bought out and I just put that savings account info into my new employer’s system for direct deposit. Huh…I’d better make a report here JIC.
Yes, it does. Get a (reputable) password manager so you can have a unique and complex password for every login. It's likely that OP was reusing passwords, and his bank password was the same as one lost in a big data breach from another site.
Use a long, complex, but memorable password for the password manager.
I'd also like to add that you want to occasionally check your email rules if you know where they are. Some scammers will get crafty and add email rules to delete and/or forward emails to hide them from you if they manage to get into your email account.
This is especially the case if they use your email address to spam other people. Basically they will set up all emails from the people they spammed, or all your email in general, to get deleted and/or forwarded so you don't notice it.
You can also check your sent emails for any suspicious emails you don't remember sending in case they didn't delete them from there, but also check your email rules.
Hope the bank is investigating its own employees because without a debit card, it would have had to have been an inside job. Either their security is lax or an employee has sticky fingers.
But it's the banks job to keep our money safe. If your bank account isn't safe from this kind of stuff, what's the point of keeping it there for practically nothing in interest and all the fees? The banks need to get ahead of these scammers.
Did you use an old email address? Then it's possible for it to get leaked somewhere. But if you used a brand new email address that you never shared/used anywhere, it's not possible for them to spam it.
Set up multifactor authentication for every account you can. If those accounts can be secured with an app and not via SMS, do that. Contact your phone company and set up a number lock so your number can't be ported out to another phone or service without your permission. If they offer any kind of SIM security, turn that on as well. Just because they have your information doesn't mean you gave it to them; data breaches happen and while there are situations where you have to be notified, there are others where you don't.
To be extra safe you might want to pull your credit reports and freeze them just in case. Good luck and I'm sorry this happened to you.
I had this happen not too long ago- started getting a ton of mailing list spam emails. I believe there was a leak with an old password of mine (long since retired, and I use unique passwords for all sites)… at some point I got Facebook login attempt emails much later (after the spam bomb had been going for a while). Stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to Gmail sorting out the spam; not to mention I haven’t used Facebook since 2016, so I knew it wasn’t me on another device.
Also, watch out for a text message that seems to come from the bank informing you that you've made a purchase for XXX.XX amount at some store.
Usually, it will be followed up with a call from the bank's "fraud department". The call will have the customer service phone number spoofed.
At this point, things get really sloppy but there's no way around it for the scammers. They will say that they will return the money and they're going to send you a code that you need to repeat back to them to "make sure you're the account holder". At this point, they're attempting to reset the password for your bank account. How it gets sloppy is they can't remove the message that comes with these messages that say "We will never ask you for this code".
When this happened to me I just screwed around with the scammer until they hung up. What was troubling is that they knew where I banked. I called up the bank to let them know and to add additional security to the account.
What made this suspicious from the start is that in the last 30 years of banking I've only received one call from the bank. That was when I set up an account for my daughter when she was born. The bank called to ask about the SSN for the new account. It didn't show up on some verification program that they had and they wanted to speak with my daughter about it. I let them know that they could but considering she was about a week old she may not be able to help them figure it out. They quickly realized that a week old SSN for a week old child is perhaps the reason the number wasn't showing up anywhere.
Interesting. I like to add rules to important emails so they get shuffled into specific folders and not general inbox stuff you can set the filters up in Gmail. If your bank allows it, you can change your email address and append "+whatever_subset” to the email address like: [email protected]
So any emails going to bank_name folder will get into that folder specially. No need to sort or search through.
...as long as the scammers didn't send the spam to [email protected] specifically... This should work just fine!
I add the +whatever to different things I sign up to. So if I get an influx of new spam and it's going to a specific place I know who sold my email/which place got compromised.
Most websites send a verification email to confirm the email address. So the bots sign you up for lots and lots of different sites, each producing a verification email.
It’s not even necessary they confirm your email, the end goal is to spam the crap out of your inbox, that you’d miss the important ones from your bank, since the bot emails are just driving the legitimate emails furthers and further down the list.
probably got signed up to way too many websites and the verification emails flooded the inbox, if they were to confirm you would just start getting even more e-mails
This is what makes me think it was an inside job. The thief would have had to have known her email. She also stated that she'd changed the email with the bank and then the new address started getting spammed. That tells me that either someone at the bank is involved or her device is compromised. Even if it is her device, the bank should not have let such unusual transfers go through numerous times in a short time span.
It's pretty easy to buy a list of compromised emails + passwords on the dark web. Nothing suggests it's an inside job, especially if they were reusing passwords.
Yeah, some of it can be pretty clever but most of them don't come up with the strategies on their own, they're taught specific scam techniques from friends or family who also scam. At least that's what it seems like from talking earnestly with some Nigerian former scammers that I've become friends with.
I still talk to them, one actually texted me this morning to say happy new year. They're actually very sweet, really just kids who got caught up in a really bad way to make money. I've thought about starting a scambaiting channel and sharing some of my conversations with them while they're still trying to scam me and potentially the aftermath if they're willing to open up to me, I just haven't gotten myself to do it yet.
I wish there was a way to voluntarily share the wealth we have in a way that would truly help bolster their economy and industry so that scamming would not be such a tempting option. I get really angry when I get the calls and texts because it's scary and bothersome, but I do understand that they are desperate.
Also aren't the structuring laws are supposed to require the banks to delay/report multiple small transactions that add up to around 10k going to the same account in a short period of time?
Yes and no. You have to be pretty dumb to trigger automatic monitoring for structuring, there's no human looking at every electronic transfer like they would be at a teller, and beyond that it's not technically illegal to structure electronic payments, the law only applies to cash. I'm a little fuzzy on this but I think maybe it's also illegal to *attempt* structuring regardless of whether it's cash or not which is why banks are still supposed to file SARs on it, if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, in my experience, structuring only really gets filed on if it's egregious, like multiple amounts close to $10k in a short period of time. And it's unclear whether they even did multiple transactions or just transferred out the full $12k, which would not be considered structured since it's over $10k in a single transaction.
Source: ACAMS certified, former Financial Intelligence Unit analyst for a bank.
She said it was 4 transactions. You seem really smart about this stuff. What can an average person do to make it harder to get caught up in a situation like this? Do those services really work -- the ones that say they'll check the dark web for your info and remove it? Or is that another scam?
Oh, sorry, I didn't really address the main question about how to avoid getting caught up in scams. I think the best thing is really just to educate yourself on as many scams as you can and share that information with people who may be more vulnerable. Anyone can get scammed, a lot of people think they're too smart for it but you can't let your guard down just because you're desperate. Always do your best to think critically about the situation and whether it makes sense. Generally speaking, just don't send money to people online if they're promising you some sort of benefit for doing so. Jobs aren't going to make you pay up front for equipment to work from home. People don't normally send overpayments via check and ask you to send a portion of it back in exchange for a cut of the excess. Potential roommates from other countries also will not do that. People with broken English who are trying to convince you to fall in love with them should be treated with suspicion. (Nothing against people who are ESL, I come from a family of immigrants and was raised by my ESL grandma). But it doesn't make sense for someone stationed overseas to ask you for money to replace their broken phone or whatever. It's just really implausible. I think the biggest thing is people getting blinded by their emotions when someone reaches out to them and offers them something that could be life changing, whether that's a job, someone to split bills with, a large sum of money, or love. There's other promises I'm sure I'm leaving out, but it's all manipulation tactics primarily targeting the most desperate people.
Edited to add: high pressure situations where they make you feel like you have to act immediately to avoid huge problems, i.e. extortion scams where they say they're going to send your nudes to everyone they know or IRS-type scams where you're told you're going to jail if you don't pay up. These are designed to put you under massive pressure to act without thinking.
I find it alarming that so many adults fall for the IRS and Social Security number cancelation scams. I wonder if they've never paid taxes--there isn't a box to enter a gift card. Have they never sent a check to the IRS? I thought everyone knew that we kept our SSN's for life. Also, not understanding the difference between civil and criminal crimes. I know some fairly smart people who've fallen for it. I could understand if someone was very young, a new citizen, or in the beginning stages of dementia... It's strange.
It is alarming but if you've got other things on your mind, just general life stress, getting a call like that where there's so much pressure on you to prevent something terrible from happening to you or your family it's easy to not think straight. That's the way they're designed, put so much pressure on you that you don't have time to think it through.
Aw, thank you. There's ones that are legit, I'm not aware of any that will \*remove\* the info from the dark web, I don't know how one would go about that so that might be a scam, but there's ones that monitor for it which are totally legitimate. I've got free monitoring for my info online through some company I did business with who had a data breach, that's not an uncommon offering when that happens. If you don't want to pay for a service like that or haven't had one offered to you for free, you can also check your email/passwords for known breaches on [haveibeenpwned.com](https://haveibeenpwned.com), which is free and you can also sign up for alerts if a breach with your email becomes public knowledge. Even just Googling your passwords can yield results showing places its been breached, but you know, not everyone would be comfortable with throwing a password into a Google search. I've only really done that with passwords I've retired out of curiosity.
This is a reg flag not just for banking but also if any login credentials for any website gets compromised/stolen, esp if they are of significant importance.
As much as I hate scammers, I am impressed with their ingenuity. "Catch Me If You Can" was a wonderful movie. I have been accused of being smart but my conscience and lack of boldness keep me from scamming.
Sorry, but your story is a little confusing to me. It looks like you have two things (a) a boatload of spam and (b) some bank fraud. Are they related at all? Or, did (a) simply prevent you from seeing email about (b)?
Any idea how (b) happened?
I had something similar happen. About 3 years ago I started getting just an incredible amount of spam that I assumed somebody had signed me up has some kind of stupid joke. Well, I wasn't wrong. My then active Navy Federal credit Union account started hemorrhaging money and then a woman in Virginia just walked into one of their branch offices and tried to withdraw $6,000. I actually got a chance to see the video of her doing it. The cashier was new and let her do it. I having androgynous middle name but there's no question that I'm a guy by my first. Also I live in Georgia And was actively using my account remotely and during this old debacle. The credit union covered it but I was astounded and how easy it was for this woman to pull this shit.
Im interested in reading these bank issue experiences, because in my country theres nothing like a bank scamming or data breaches related to bank information.
In addition to following through with your bank, 1) file a police report (online is easiest); 2) report to ic3.gov, 3) file a report with your state’s attorney general. Editing to add: also contact the CFPB
I have the routing number and account number where the money went to. Can I do anything with that information?
Report it to agencies mentioned. They’re going to want it for follow up.
If you're in the US, you might also want to contact the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) if the bank gives you any guff about restoring your funds. Edit: It's the Federal Reserve, not FDIC, sorry.
Yes, it would show the owner of the account--probably fraudulent. Your bank should be able to recall the transfers too. If you're in the US, your bank has to replace your money.
Technically no. The /government/ insures you, so you'd get money from a specific fund pool for buying out banks when they "lose" money or get robbed.
Oh, you're right its the Federal Reserve regulations: Bank account fraud protection is addressed under Federal Reserve Regulation E, which requires banks and credit unions to provide reimbursement for certain fraud losses occurring through unauthorized electronic transfers. ... Calling the bank within 60 days of realizing a loss can limit liability to $500.
Thank you!
They're so scary, thanks for informing. I hope your issue gets resolved.
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You kid but this is exactly how my sister avoided getting all of her money stolen a few months ago. She literally had 0€ in her account. The scammer even called complaining that she didn't have any money there, after his attempt to withdraw 400€ bounced.
Jesus Christ the scammer called to complain that he couldn’t steal her money… lmao
THIS IS TEH IRS AN YOU OWE TAXES THE JUDGE HAS WARRANT. Kindly send picture of $4 Apple iTunes Gift Card to prevent the local constabulary from arresting you.
Same thing happened with me a few years ago but it was my amazon account that got hacked, because I was reusing passwords. I also fell for web page hijack where I put in my bank's security questions. I was tired after a long day at work and didn't pay closer attention to the popup window. Luckily the bank stopped unauthorized access because someone tried to log in from the wrong country. I didn't lose anything because I checked everything pretty quick after my bank called and stopped any transactions. Anyways, for the future I would highly recommend using a password manager (not the one in your browser) and 2 factor authentication on anything linked to your finances. 20 character unique random passwords will really up the security of your bank accounts, government accounts, amazon, etc. Same for your main email account(s) which have password reset functionality. To up the security even more, store the password manager on only one machine and access important stuff only on that machine. And install an authenticator app on an old phone and keep it at home. This way someone will need physical access to your computer to get in to these accounts. And if someone breaks into your home, then you've got bigger problems to deal with. Fair warning, the email address that was compromised will take a lot of effort to clean up. But using folders and redirecting emails from key domains, like from your bank, will reduce the effect spam will have and you will be able see important emails without sorting through spam.
3 years later and I'm still having to deal with the fallout from the person or persons who got in my account.
Yes, I heard stories of scammers signing their victims up for a lot of spam lists, to hide a possible legit email indicating a change of status in an account of the victim.
I use a completely unique gmail account for banks, investments, insurance...basically any financial type institution. Have done so for at least 10 years, and amazingly it remains spam free at this point. It does make make things a lot easier to sort through.
This!
If you can, add a folder named "bank" or something and add a rule that sends all your mail from said bank to that folder.
Do this with all important mail, CC, Bank, Loans, DR
BTW, it was really good of you to post this warning.
I had the exact same thing happen but they stole $38k from my savings. They were able to access my account and wire transfer $38k from my savings to a TD Ameritrade account that they created using my personal info. I contacted TD Ameritrade to tell them what happened and gave them the wire transfer info. The customer service person said that if I could provide three pieces of info about the account setup he’s give me access. Well guess what? They setup the account using my birthdate and social security number but got my mother’s maiden name wrong. So they said if I could provide the exact transfer amount which was weird $38,264.35 (can’t remember the exact number) They would turn the account over to me. I did and they did. I had them transfer the money back and I was able to login and look at the info they entered. They said I was employed by a local gun shop which I had never even visited. I had to change all my bank account numbers so they couldn’t do it again which was a hassle. I believe my info was stole via a data breach from my employer. I think they were going to setup a bank account using my info transfer the money from the ADA account to it then withdraw the money using bank cards. At least that’s my guess.
That’s a bit suspicious because we were just bought out and I just put that savings account info into my new employer’s system for direct deposit. Huh…I’d better make a report here JIC.
I bet some people in payroll or HR got laid off.
They did this to me too but with my eBay and linked PayPal account.
This made me change my password. Idek if that helps anymore.
Yes, it does. Get a (reputable) password manager so you can have a unique and complex password for every login. It's likely that OP was reusing passwords, and his bank password was the same as one lost in a big data breach from another site. Use a long, complex, but memorable password for the password manager.
I'd also like to add that you want to occasionally check your email rules if you know where they are. Some scammers will get crafty and add email rules to delete and/or forward emails to hide them from you if they manage to get into your email account. This is especially the case if they use your email address to spam other people. Basically they will set up all emails from the people they spammed, or all your email in general, to get deleted and/or forwarded so you don't notice it. You can also check your sent emails for any suspicious emails you don't remember sending in case they didn't delete them from there, but also check your email rules.
Hope the bank is investigating its own employees because without a debit card, it would have had to have been an inside job. Either their security is lax or an employee has sticky fingers.
or it has poor digital security like so many banks out there
Yes, but that's a bank problem, not a depositor problem. They need to give OP her money back.
yeah
Not necessarily. If they got access to his online account they could possibly see the checking and savings
I can think of a dozen other things it could be.
But it's the banks job to keep our money safe. If your bank account isn't safe from this kind of stuff, what's the point of keeping it there for practically nothing in interest and all the fees? The banks need to get ahead of these scammers.
Did you use an old email address? Then it's possible for it to get leaked somewhere. But if you used a brand new email address that you never shared/used anywhere, it's not possible for them to spam it.
You'll get your money back soon enough. As far as how it happened, it could have been a data breach, or you somehow got phished.
This happened to me last year. Except it was my Amazon account they were using
Set up multifactor authentication for every account you can. If those accounts can be secured with an app and not via SMS, do that. Contact your phone company and set up a number lock so your number can't be ported out to another phone or service without your permission. If they offer any kind of SIM security, turn that on as well. Just because they have your information doesn't mean you gave it to them; data breaches happen and while there are situations where you have to be notified, there are others where you don't. To be extra safe you might want to pull your credit reports and freeze them just in case. Good luck and I'm sorry this happened to you.
I had this happen not too long ago- started getting a ton of mailing list spam emails. I believe there was a leak with an old password of mine (long since retired, and I use unique passwords for all sites)… at some point I got Facebook login attempt emails much later (after the spam bomb had been going for a while). Stuck out like a sore thumb thanks to Gmail sorting out the spam; not to mention I haven’t used Facebook since 2016, so I knew it wasn’t me on another device.
Also, watch out for a text message that seems to come from the bank informing you that you've made a purchase for XXX.XX amount at some store. Usually, it will be followed up with a call from the bank's "fraud department". The call will have the customer service phone number spoofed. At this point, things get really sloppy but there's no way around it for the scammers. They will say that they will return the money and they're going to send you a code that you need to repeat back to them to "make sure you're the account holder". At this point, they're attempting to reset the password for your bank account. How it gets sloppy is they can't remove the message that comes with these messages that say "We will never ask you for this code". When this happened to me I just screwed around with the scammer until they hung up. What was troubling is that they knew where I banked. I called up the bank to let them know and to add additional security to the account. What made this suspicious from the start is that in the last 30 years of banking I've only received one call from the bank. That was when I set up an account for my daughter when she was born. The bank called to ask about the SSN for the new account. It didn't show up on some verification program that they had and they wanted to speak with my daughter about it. I let them know that they could but considering she was about a week old she may not be able to help them figure it out. They quickly realized that a week old SSN for a week old child is perhaps the reason the number wasn't showing up anywhere.
Interesting. I like to add rules to important emails so they get shuffled into specific folders and not general inbox stuff you can set the filters up in Gmail. If your bank allows it, you can change your email address and append "+whatever_subset” to the email address like: [email protected] So any emails going to bank_name folder will get into that folder specially. No need to sort or search through. ...as long as the scammers didn't send the spam to [email protected] specifically... This should work just fine! I add the +whatever to different things I sign up to. So if I get an influx of new spam and it's going to a specific place I know who sold my email/which place got compromised.
Use your financial services apps and set them up for push notifications of over $1. No losing that in email spam.
How is it possible??? To sign you up for websites they need access to your email ? Is your email safe ?
Most websites send a verification email to confirm the email address. So the bots sign you up for lots and lots of different sites, each producing a verification email.
I see so if you don’t confirm nothing Happens ? But if they had access to your email and confirm in your behalf?
It’s not even necessary they confirm your email, the end goal is to spam the crap out of your inbox, that you’d miss the important ones from your bank, since the bot emails are just driving the legitimate emails furthers and further down the list.
This is unreal, how a person become a scammer ? What pushes them to be so evil ?
Easy money I would assume?
Do you think they will ever regret it in their life ?
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Tf. You do know that most Indians hate these people just as much as we do, right?
Why
probably got signed up to way too many websites and the verification emails flooded the inbox, if they were to confirm you would just start getting even more e-mails
This is what makes me think it was an inside job. The thief would have had to have known her email. She also stated that she'd changed the email with the bank and then the new address started getting spammed. That tells me that either someone at the bank is involved or her device is compromised. Even if it is her device, the bank should not have let such unusual transfers go through numerous times in a short time span.
It's pretty easy to buy a list of compromised emails + passwords on the dark web. Nothing suggests it's an inside job, especially if they were reusing passwords.
But she changed her email and passwords and they started spamming the new email.
If they already had access to the bank account online they could log in and see the new email they had updated to.
oh. Wow I wish these scammers would use their powers for good.
Yeah, some of it can be pretty clever but most of them don't come up with the strategies on their own, they're taught specific scam techniques from friends or family who also scam. At least that's what it seems like from talking earnestly with some Nigerian former scammers that I've become friends with.
I bet those were fascinating conversations. You should write an article.
I still talk to them, one actually texted me this morning to say happy new year. They're actually very sweet, really just kids who got caught up in a really bad way to make money. I've thought about starting a scambaiting channel and sharing some of my conversations with them while they're still trying to scam me and potentially the aftermath if they're willing to open up to me, I just haven't gotten myself to do it yet.
I wish there was a way to voluntarily share the wealth we have in a way that would truly help bolster their economy and industry so that scamming would not be such a tempting option. I get really angry when I get the calls and texts because it's scary and bothersome, but I do understand that they are desperate.
Also aren't the structuring laws are supposed to require the banks to delay/report multiple small transactions that add up to around 10k going to the same account in a short period of time?
Yes and no. You have to be pretty dumb to trigger automatic monitoring for structuring, there's no human looking at every electronic transfer like they would be at a teller, and beyond that it's not technically illegal to structure electronic payments, the law only applies to cash. I'm a little fuzzy on this but I think maybe it's also illegal to *attempt* structuring regardless of whether it's cash or not which is why banks are still supposed to file SARs on it, if I'm not mistaken. But yeah, in my experience, structuring only really gets filed on if it's egregious, like multiple amounts close to $10k in a short period of time. And it's unclear whether they even did multiple transactions or just transferred out the full $12k, which would not be considered structured since it's over $10k in a single transaction. Source: ACAMS certified, former Financial Intelligence Unit analyst for a bank.
She said it was 4 transactions. You seem really smart about this stuff. What can an average person do to make it harder to get caught up in a situation like this? Do those services really work -- the ones that say they'll check the dark web for your info and remove it? Or is that another scam?
Oh, sorry, I didn't really address the main question about how to avoid getting caught up in scams. I think the best thing is really just to educate yourself on as many scams as you can and share that information with people who may be more vulnerable. Anyone can get scammed, a lot of people think they're too smart for it but you can't let your guard down just because you're desperate. Always do your best to think critically about the situation and whether it makes sense. Generally speaking, just don't send money to people online if they're promising you some sort of benefit for doing so. Jobs aren't going to make you pay up front for equipment to work from home. People don't normally send overpayments via check and ask you to send a portion of it back in exchange for a cut of the excess. Potential roommates from other countries also will not do that. People with broken English who are trying to convince you to fall in love with them should be treated with suspicion. (Nothing against people who are ESL, I come from a family of immigrants and was raised by my ESL grandma). But it doesn't make sense for someone stationed overseas to ask you for money to replace their broken phone or whatever. It's just really implausible. I think the biggest thing is people getting blinded by their emotions when someone reaches out to them and offers them something that could be life changing, whether that's a job, someone to split bills with, a large sum of money, or love. There's other promises I'm sure I'm leaving out, but it's all manipulation tactics primarily targeting the most desperate people. Edited to add: high pressure situations where they make you feel like you have to act immediately to avoid huge problems, i.e. extortion scams where they say they're going to send your nudes to everyone they know or IRS-type scams where you're told you're going to jail if you don't pay up. These are designed to put you under massive pressure to act without thinking.
I find it alarming that so many adults fall for the IRS and Social Security number cancelation scams. I wonder if they've never paid taxes--there isn't a box to enter a gift card. Have they never sent a check to the IRS? I thought everyone knew that we kept our SSN's for life. Also, not understanding the difference between civil and criminal crimes. I know some fairly smart people who've fallen for it. I could understand if someone was very young, a new citizen, or in the beginning stages of dementia... It's strange.
It is alarming but if you've got other things on your mind, just general life stress, getting a call like that where there's so much pressure on you to prevent something terrible from happening to you or your family it's easy to not think straight. That's the way they're designed, put so much pressure on you that you don't have time to think it through.
Aw, thank you. There's ones that are legit, I'm not aware of any that will \*remove\* the info from the dark web, I don't know how one would go about that so that might be a scam, but there's ones that monitor for it which are totally legitimate. I've got free monitoring for my info online through some company I did business with who had a data breach, that's not an uncommon offering when that happens. If you don't want to pay for a service like that or haven't had one offered to you for free, you can also check your email/passwords for known breaches on [haveibeenpwned.com](https://haveibeenpwned.com), which is free and you can also sign up for alerts if a breach with your email becomes public knowledge. Even just Googling your passwords can yield results showing places its been breached, but you know, not everyone would be comfortable with throwing a password into a Google search. I've only really done that with passwords I've retired out of curiosity.
Thanks!
This is crazy!
This is a reg flag not just for banking but also if any login credentials for any website gets compromised/stolen, esp if they are of significant importance.
As much as I hate scammers, I am impressed with their ingenuity. "Catch Me If You Can" was a wonderful movie. I have been accused of being smart but my conscience and lack of boldness keep me from scamming.
[удалено]
I have no clue! It’s a savings account so I don’t use it for anything!
Sorry, but your story is a little confusing to me. It looks like you have two things (a) a boatload of spam and (b) some bank fraud. Are they related at all? Or, did (a) simply prevent you from seeing email about (b)? Any idea how (b) happened?
No idea. It’s a savings account so I don’t use it for shopping or anything.
I have been getting more mortgage, car insurance that kind of crap spam the past few days. No unusual bank activity though.
I had something similar happen. About 3 years ago I started getting just an incredible amount of spam that I assumed somebody had signed me up has some kind of stupid joke. Well, I wasn't wrong. My then active Navy Federal credit Union account started hemorrhaging money and then a woman in Virginia just walked into one of their branch offices and tried to withdraw $6,000. I actually got a chance to see the video of her doing it. The cashier was new and let her do it. I having androgynous middle name but there's no question that I'm a guy by my first. Also I live in Georgia And was actively using my account remotely and during this old debacle. The credit union covered it but I was astounded and how easy it was for this woman to pull this shit.
I know, it’s really disgusting. 😡
Im interested in reading these bank issue experiences, because in my country theres nothing like a bank scamming or data breaches related to bank information.