NEWS RELEASE
GUELPH POLICE SERVICE
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Todays 'Fraud Friday' is about bank investigator scams. There has been increased reporting from victims that have been misled by scammers portraying themselves as representatives of financial institutions, law enforcement or other officials.
How it works:
Scammers will call you on landlines in the early morning and claim a suspicious charge was done in the middle of the night on your credit card. They claim the charge is either from an online purchase, in store transaction or overseas transfer. They then state that they require your credit card to cancel the transaction.
In some cases, you are transferred to an alleged investigator. More commonly, you are requested to immediately call the number on the back of your credit card to verify the validity of the initial call. When you believe you have hung up, the original caller, not having actually disconnected, redirects you to imposters. At this time, you are persuaded to transfer funds to an external bank account to safeguard your funds until the 'investigation' is complete. In this variation of the scam, the fraudsters are calling you on landlines.
Warning signs - how to protect yourself
- Calls to landlines from scammers in the 'Bank Investigator' scam tend to happen in the early morning, oftentimes when a victim is still sleeping and not yet alert.
- Be alert when dealing with financial matters.
- Financial institutions will never request transferring funds to an external account for security reasons.
- Criminals use "Call-Spoofing" to mislead victims. Do not assume that phone numbers appearing on call display are accurate. This call-spoofing technology is easily available.
- Never provide remote access to your computer systems to unknown callers.
- Never provide personal or banking information to someone you do not know on the phone, text or email.
- Always question urgent requests for money.
- Do not forward or transfer money to people you do not know.
If you think you have been a victim of a scam, contact your financial institution immediately and local police. You can also report it online to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
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