The Federal Trade Communication (FTC) reports that collectively people lose billions of dollars a year to scammers. Two common schemes are romance scams and Bitcoin scams.
“These scams are real, they’re in our communities affecting people of all ages and social status,” said Tara Lee, assistant vice president of corporate security and investigations at The State Bank in Fenton.
Lee said with hundreds of scams out there, customers fall victim to many. A few scams the employees at the bank have seen include “the romance scam” and scams involving Bitcoin.
“Romance scams happen when people meet, typically through social media. The scammer gains the trust and affection of the victim. Eventually the scammer convinces the victim to send money and/or gift cards stating they or a family member are needing medical assistance, they’re out of the country trying to make their way back to the states,” Lee said.
In most of these cases, the victim has never physically met the scammer. All communication happens online, commonly through email.
“They may even convince the victim to give up their banking credentials allowing the scammer online banking access to their accounts,” she said.
The FTC found that people lost $547 million to romance scams in 2021. In 2022, that number “hit a staggering $1.3 billion,” according to the FTC. Nearly 70,000 people reported losses to romance scams last year. The medium reported loss was $4,400.
“These scammers pay close attention to the information you share, and don’t miss a beat becoming your perfect match. You like a thing, so that’s their thing, too. You’re looking to settle down. They’re ready too. But there is one exception — you want to meet in real life, and they can’t. Reports show their excuse is often baked right into their fake identity,” according to the FTC.
Cryptocurrency scams are also common and very costly. The FBI reported that victims lost more than $2.5 billion to cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2022.
Lee said the scams involving Bitcoin are operated differently than romance scams. The scammer may claim they’re from Social Security, the IRS or law enforcement and scare the victim with some type of threat. These scammers attempt to convince the victim to withdraw their life savings and make a deposit into a Bitcoin ATM.
“Most victims aren’t even familiar with Bitcoin or other types of cryptocurrency. The scammer walks them through creating an account and depositing cash at the Bitcoin ATM, because the scammer has helped, they have all the Bitcoin account information and transfers the money out right away,” she said.
Employees at The State Bank are trained to look for suspicious or out of character behavior from customers as well as suspicious activity on their accounts to hopefully prevent financial loss.
“With that being said, the scammers are very good at convincing their victim to lie to the tellers if engaged in conversation. They’re scripted on exactly what to say if asked what the funds are being used for. Employees are trained to report anything that doesn’t seem right to their supervisor and the fraud department for further investigation,” Lee said.
“The bank takes every fraud situation seriously.”
The Financial Exploitation Prevention Act allows the bank to take action to protect customers and their accounts when they suspect fraudulent activity.
“The fraud department will reach out to local authorities, adult protective services, and joint account holders to advise them of our suspicions. Restrictions will be placed on accounts until an investigation into the situation can be completed,” Lee said. In the fraud world, trying to convince someone they’re being scammed is the biggest hurdle the bank faces. A quote said, ‘It’s easier to scam someone than convince them they’re being scammed.’ This statement is unfortunately very true.
“Most people are embarrassed and will not reveal they’ve been scammed but it’s important to tell their story to others, as their story may just save someone else from falling victim,” she said.
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