By Brian Tate
IPA President and CEO Fraud and scam activity can happen to anyone. By anyone, I mean it always seems to happen to someone else, or in other words, someone you don’t know. I have worked in the financial services industry for over 20 years and I have given advice to countless people regarding how to protect oneself from fraud or what to do once a fraudulent act has occurred. Like most things, fraud hits a little differently when it is closer to home. Just a few days ago I learned that my mother was the victim of bank account fraud. We believe it may have been an account takeover or at the very least, someone who illegally obtained her personal credentials and instigated a couple of small financial transactions that I am sure were designed to see if it was possible to begin transferring money out of her account. The phony test transactions were successful and could have led to larger transactions that would have siphoned money out of her account. However, my retired senior citizen mother noticed. She noticed a suspicious fake email addressed from a friend asking for money, which led her to check her bank statement online. To her credit she immediately notified the bank that she noticed transactions that she did not authorize were on her statement. The bank conducted a brief investigation and returned her money. My mother was lucky and fortunate. Although my mother knows I work in the financial services community, I am pretty sure we have never had a conversation about what to do when fraud occurs. Nonetheless, she did all the right things any financial fraud professional would recommend. She regularly tracked her bank transactions and statements. Once she noticed suspicious activity, she moved quickly to tell her bank. Lastly, she has taken steps to open new accounts. There are a lot of senior citizens who are not as lucky or haven’t been that fortunate when it comes to scams or fraud. Fraudsters focus in on seniors for a wide variety of reasons – they tend to have money saved, they are trusting, and generally are not as knowledgeable about technology. Scams targeting senior citizens are unfortunately all too common and often can be devastating. I don’t want anyone to be a victim of fraud. But in the tech-based world we live in, I know most, if not all of us will be victims at some point. That does not mean we should just let it happen. There are steps we can all take to protect ourselves:
Be Aware of the Different Types of Scams
Red Flags
What to Do if You're Targeted If you suspect a scam, report it to your bank, local law enforcement, and the Federal Trade Commission; find a list of resources on our consumer support page. Comments are closed.
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