Author: CedarStone Bank News

Be cautious when sharing your personal information, especially in a “smishing” scam, where fraudsters send deceptive messages to trick people into revealing sensitive details. This allows them to steal credit card numbers and other personal data.

Even those who are tech-savvy can fall victim to scams, such as fake text messages pretending to be from the Postal Service. These messages may claim that a package can’t be delivered due to an incorrect address, prompting you to take action.

Here’s how it usually unfolds: You’re busy when you get a message. Knowing you have deliveries on the way, you quickly fill out your address and payment details on a website that looks completely legitimate. Only moments later, you realize you might have made a costly mistake.

The USPS offers tips through its website on sniffing out “smishing,” but it all boils down to the basics of don’t click a link you don’t recognize and can’t verify and always be cautious about providing personal information when someone reaches out to you. Hackers send out hundreds of thousands of text messages a day hoping a small percentage of recipients will fall for their scam.

Older Americans are increasingly being caught up in elaborate scams designed by perpetrators to drain them of their retirement savings, with the detail and scale of such scams sometimes requiring the intervention of federal law enforcement. Subjects of interviews were ensnared in scams that could be so elaborate it’s as if they were created in a writer’s room testing different plot devices. Scammers can impersonate government officials, tech support staff or love interests. They coach victims on how to sidestep fraud prevention measures at financial institutions, and they use manipulative psychological tactics — isolation, a sense of urgency or preying on people’s willingness to trust or connect — to keep the scam going.

Retirees have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement savings due to the persistent efforts of these bad actors. A gentleman lost this money over a period of only three months, spending just about every weekday doing the legwork and making withdrawals from his bank accounts as part of an intricate scam. He believed he was helping the feds safeguard his money and catch thieves who were after it. Such scammers are present in a variety of online areas, including dating websites, social media platforms, messaging apps and through the use of invasive, malicious software — just to name a few. The nature of these schemes makes it nearly impossible to recover the money, leaving victims with little recourse. The stolen funds are often whisked to overseas accounts or laundered through cryptocurrency wallets, which are quickly emptied. The losses are sometimes exacerbated by taxes. Withdrawals from retirement accounts — especially in such large amounts — can often come with a heavy tax bill that the victims have few resources to cover after being scammed.

Here’s what happens…

A person comes into the bank to withdraw $10,000 for a fraudulent scheme supposedly to pay a bondsman on a fraudulent arrest warrant for missing jury duty. The caller poses as a Sergeant in the Sheriff’s dept instructing the customer to pay the bond or turn himself into the local police station. The fraudsters will often send pictures of an arrest warrant, which looked very official, with instructions to make payment to a bitcoin kiosk.

What we can do….

We can call the Sheriff’s department to verify that they do not call or issue arrest warrants for missing jury duty. We can then provide the details of the scam to a Deputy Sheriff, so they can stay aware of these ongoing incidents.