Fraud Awareness — What to Look Out For

In the modern digital age, safeguarding your personal information online is no simple task. With scams and attempts to fool you into disclosing sensitive information (commonly referred to as phishing) becoming more complex and difficult to immediately identify, knowing what to look for (and what to be suspicious of) is more important than ever.

We’ve compiled several key tips to help you stay prepared, so let’s get started!

Knowing What to Look For

Part of what makes fraudulent messages hard to spot is all the different forms they can take. Whether it’s text, email, or phone call, each form has different traits to keep in mind when evaluating the legitimacy of a request. However, there are some common traits and questions that you should keep in mind:

• Who is making the request?
  • Fraudsters will commonly pose as an employee of your financial institution (or other authority figure) and request you share critical information with them—something no employee should ever do.
  • When in doubt, the safest thing to do is to hang up and call your financial institution directly to verify whether the call was legitimate or not. If contacted via physical mail or email, do not respond and report the mailing to your institution directly.
• Are they creating a sense of urgency?
  • A common tactic fraudsters utilize is to create a false sense of urgency, often with a significant “consequence” for not acting.
• Are they using your emotions to encourage an action?
  • Fraudsters often use emotions (like fear or anxiety) to prevent you from fully processing the situation and catching on to red flags.

Here’s an example scenario:

You receive a phone call from someone claiming to be a representative of your financial institution. They tell you that due to suspected fraud, your accounts will be immediately frozen unless you are able to provide your account’s one-time passcode to them.

What are the problems here?

• No employee should ever ask you for sensitive information such as one-time passcodes over the phone.
• The fraudster is creating a sense of urgency by telling you your account will be frozen unless you take action.
• Restricted account access is intended to make you anxious or fearful, tempting you to comply with their request.

In this scenario, the best thing to do is to call your financial institution to verify if the call, text, or email is legitimate. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

Next Steps

Now that you know what phishing is and how to recognize the signs, feel free to check out the article Fraud Prevention & Key Response Tips for things you can do to help minimize your fraud risk, or key actions you should take if you believe you’ve been targeted by a scam or fraud attempt.

If you currently believe you’re the victim of a scam or attempted fraud and are a Sun Federal member, contact our team immediately for assistance by calling 800.786.0945.