Top Scams and Tips to Avoid Them

Robins Financial Credit Union is dedicated to our mission to be Member Focused, Financial Partners, Community Proud. We empower our members with the financial knowledge and resources they need to make informed decisions and achieve their financial goals.

The safety and security of our members and their information is a top priority. That's why we asked Jeremy Coulter, Security Administrator here at Robins Financial Credit Union, to help provide information about some of the most recent scams our members are facing, how to identify them, as well as tips to help avoid them.

Social Engineering

Jeremy: Social engineering involves the use of manipulation to deceive you into revealing sensitive information or performing an action that compromises your security. The most common type of social engineering we've seen for our credit union and our members is phishing.

• Phishing - A fraudulent email or text message that appears to be from a known or trusted source such as your credit union, a credit union employee, or colleague. To identify a phishing attempt, here's what to look for:
  • Urgent or Threatening Tone: Be cautious with emails requiring immediate action or threatening some adverse action.
  • Unusual Senders: Watch for odd, misspelled, or unrecognized email addresses.
  • Grammatical or Spelling Mistakes: Pay attention to typos or unprofessional language.
  • Suspicious Links or Attachments: For links, hover over with your mouse pointer without clicking on it to inspect the link text (usually displayed in the bottom right corner of your screen) and ensure the link is taking you to the intended destination. Be cautious when interacting with attachments, especially those that are unexpected.
  • "Too-Good-To-Be-True" Offers: Be cautious of offers containing huge discounts or free items.
  • Unexpected Requests: Inspect any request for sensitive information closely.
  • Out-of-Place or Broken Branding: Pay close attention to the coloring and style of emails or texts you may receive.
• Fake Website Pages & Credential Harvesting - In this type of scam, members typically receive an email or text appearing to come from Robins Financial Credit Union. Within the message is a link that takes you to a fake Robins Financial webpage. These pages generally have one purpose, and that's to collect or "harvest" your account credentials for the fraudsters to use how they see fit. Typically, the account credentials are "harvested" and used to steal and and launder funds or are sold to other fraudsters for the same purposes. To avoid these fake pages and credential harvesting:
  • Avoid interacting with links provided in unexpected emails or text messages.
  • Verify that the link provided takes you to the official webpage of Robins Financial Credit Union by hovering over the link. Our webpage URL should be displayed as https://robinsfcu.org.
  • If you receive communication from Robins Financial (i.e. emails, texts, or phone calls) that you are unsure is legitimate, please contact our team for verification.

Identify Theft & Data breach exploitation

Jeremy: This type of scam is the result of a prior data breach, where cybercriminals gained access to a repository of sensitive information and are attempting to exploit this information for financial gain or other malicious activities. Often, these activities include accessing or withdrawing funds from banking accounts, creating new accounts, or establishing new lines of credit in another individual's name.

Identity theft is when a fraudster uses your personal information such as your Social Security Number, name, address, phone number, or financial details without your permission to impersonate you.

Data breach exploitation is a term that refers to how cybercriminals use information harvested from data breaches to commit identity theft or other malicious activities.

To protect yourself from these types of scams:

• Monitor Your Financial Accounts - Regularly check your banking accounts and monthly statements for any unusual activity.
• Use Identity Protection & Monitoring - Consider the use of an identity monitoring service if your information has been exposed through some data breach or if you have consistent unusual activity associated with your identity.
• Act Quickly - If your information has been exposed or you notice unusual activity on you account, immediately change your password or PIN. If your Robins Financial account, credit, or debit card information is exposed, contact our team right away.

Account takeover (ATO) fraud

Jeremy: This type of scam involves a fraudster gaining access to your login credentials such as your username, email, password, or other sensitive information. Once they have this information, they proceed to login to your accounts and will typically begin to make changes to your account credentials to lock you out, modify account settings, and complete unauthorized transactions. To avoid this type of compromise:

• Create strong, unique passwords and never use the same password for multiple accounts
• Enable and utilize multi-factor authentication (MFA) if available
• Avoid accessing your account if using a public Wi-Fi (wireless) connection
• Ensure the device you use to access your Robins Financial Credit Union account has proper security installed
• If you use a mobile device to access your account, ensure that you review the access permissions of applications installed to ensure they do not have access to collect your login credentials or account information

Check scams

Jeremy: Check scams typically involve a malicious actor sending or giving you a check that appears legitimate, but it will later be discovered to be counterfeit. The delay associated with the discovery of a fake check stems from the amount of time it takes to process the check (weeks in some cases). Once the check is discovered to be fake, the check casher is responsible for the total sum of the check if a discrepancy is found with the funding account.

Typical types of check scams you may see include:

• Overpayment Scams - You receive a check for more than the agreed price, and the fraudster asks for the difference, claiming it was a mistake. If the check is found to be fake, you will be held responsible for the full amount if there is no balance to cover the check amount.
• "You've Won!" Lottery Scam - You receive a check because you supposedly won a lottery or sweepstakes. You are then asked to cash the check and return a portion of the winning amount to cover "takes and fees". Once again, by the time this check is discovered to be fake, you will be responsible for the full amount of the check that was cashed.
• Cashing a Check for Someone Else - As with other types of check scams, this type involves you cashing a check for another individual, typically because they informed you they "don't have a bank account". Once you deposit the check and withdraw the money, you are essentially paying the fraudster with your funds, as the check will later be found to be fraudulent, and you will be responsible for the entire sum of the check.

Follow these tips to protect yourself from check scams:

• Don't rush. A big red flag for check scams is someone rushing you to cash a check once it has been provided to you. Legitimate check transactions don't require immediate action.
• Verify the check. If you receive an unexpected check, don't cash it in. Verify with the person or company that supposedly sent the check via information provided on official channels (company website or official social media outlets) and not via the information provided by the message or person providing the check.
• Inspect the check carefully. Look for signs of tampering on the check, such as irregular perforations, mismatched numbers, poor paper quality, or misspellings. Genuine checks only have one perforated side.

The bottom line

New scams are constantly on the rise, but at Robins Financial Credit Union, we are always trying to stay one step ahead by equipping our members with the knowledge you need to protect yourself. For more information:

• Tune into our YouTube channel to view our Scams and Fraud series
• Read more about cybersecurity tips to keep you safe
• Visit our security and fraud page for more helpful security tips

Read our other blog articles to help you gain the financial knowledge you need to succeed.

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