As inflation continues to force consumers to find ways to save money, PlainsCapital Bank is warning people of the constant influx of fraudsters trying to steal people’s money through online banking schemes.
According to Senior Vice President Denise Owens, who also manages the fraud department at PlainsCapital Bank, there are two kinds of scams to look out for.
The banking company refers to the first scheme as the refund scam.
“In most cases, the customer is going to receive a text or email and once they respond they’ll receive a phone call from the scammer,” Owens said. “[The scammer] will advise they’re with a reputable company, let’s just say Amazon, and that Amazon has refunded the customer for any number of circumstances.”
The scammer will say that they’ve refunded the customer for a product that can’t be shipped or for being overcharged, but they’ll say that the refund they sent is incorrect.
That’s when a scammer will ask for remote access to the customer’s computer.
“If the customer doesn’t have the software for the fraudster to access their computer, they’ll talk them through downloading it,” Owens said.
Once the fraudster has access to the computer, they’ll ask the victim to sign on to their online banking account in order to verify the overpayment.
At this point, the fraudster will have full access to the customer’s online banking account and will move money between accounts to make it seem as if they did overpay the customer during the refund in order to trick them.
The scammer will then ask the customer to wire them the difference, sometimes in the form of gift cards, and if the customer initiates the transfer, it’s extremely difficult to recover those funds.
“Our advice always is: you should never grant anyone access to your computer,” Owens said. “And if you have to, for some reason, for some repair, you should never log into your online banking while you have someone else granted access.”
The second scheme is known as the fraud alert scam, which is similar to the first, the only differences are that the fraudster will claim there’s been fraud on the customer’s account, ask for access, and then put up a fake page in order to shield the customer’s eyes as they secretly transfer money using Zelle, a mobile payment phone application that allows peer-to-peer money transfers.
Again, once the money is transferred through Zelle, it is difficult to recover the funds.
Fortunately for customers, banks like PlainsCapital have methods and procedures in place to combat fraud.
“We conduct investigations on suspected fraud, assisting the customer in any type of recovery if possible,” Owens said. “We work with law enforcement, file cases with them or detective services if required.
“We also monitor fraud tools to look for suspicious activity and try to identify it prior to the activity occurring to protect our customers.”
Owens also said that if banks are able to identify any party committing fraud, they take any action they can in order to prosecute.
She added that banks see victims of all ages falling victim to online banking scams every year, and though she was unable to provide an exact number, she says the number of victims due to fraud continue to increase every year.
“The most important thing that you can do if someone contacts you like this, is hang up, contact the company directly with a number you have, not a number given to you by the scammer, to verify the situation,” Owens said.
