Today's Public Service Post

I saw this in a CapitalOne email, and these two scams stood out to me as some of the newest and latest schemes that need to be highlighted.

“My family member sounded like they were in trouble.”

Impersonation of a loved one Scammers may use artificial intelligence or other technologies to mimic voices when impersonating a trusted individual or organization. On these calls, they often impersonate a loved one in an emergency who needs money fast, or a trusted business needing to verify sensitive information. New technology makes it increasingly difficult to tell fake video or audio clips from real ones.

Helpful tips

Listen for unnatural pauses or robotic speech. Question unexpected requests for personal or financial information. Always verify the caller’s identity—often a loved one claiming to be in trouble—through a trusted source. To protect yourself, you can set up a code word with loved ones for true emergencies.

“My bank called me about fraudulent transactions.”

Bank impersonation scams Scammers may pose as a financial institution, like Capital One, to try and gain access to your account. They often use a fake caller ID that shows up as the financial institution and claim you’ve had fraudulent transactions on your account. To resolve the situation the scammer will have you make payments to reverse the fraud and protect the account. They’ll also sometimes ask for your Social Security number, government ID, or a digitally sent one-time passcode (OTP) to gain access to your account. Once they gain unauthorized access to your account, the real fraudulent transactions begin.

Helpful tips

If you’re ever in doubt when speaking over the phone, hang up and call the number on the back of your card. Financial institutions will never ask you to purchase gift cards to make payments to your account. Never send money transfers or give the number on the back of a gift card to anyone you don’t know.