A Free Public Service

SAMS BULLETIN Host Jay White is an inactive attorney in San Mateo County, California.

August 19, 2021

ONLINE BANK FRAUD

Courtesy AARP

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred many older adults to rely more on digital banking, using computers and smartphones to move money across accounts, pay bills or deposit checks.

Online banking scammers may target older people for several reasons. After decades of work, older adults are more likely to have higher incomes and greater assets. They are often perceived, fairly or not, to be less tech savvy and more inclined to answer the phone.

The first defense against banking scams is knowing that a reputable bank will not contact you out of the blue and ask for your Social Security number, online account password or other personal information.

A scammer might direct you to call a supposed customer service line (where you’ll be pressed for personal information like a Social Security number), or to click on a link that takes you to a fake banking website. That could be a trap to infect your device with malware that allows crooks to track your keystrokes and capture account credentials.

Scammer signs can include misspellings and poor grammar; email or web addresses that resemble but don’t quite match the real domain (look for a switched letter or extra punctuation mark); or generic greetings like “Dear Valued Customer.”

Scammers may come armed with information about you, gleaned from social media or a prior data breach. They’ll mention personal details like your birth date, where you work or the last four digits of your Social Security number to make their claim to be from your bank more convincing.

Know to whom you’re talking:

*If you receive a call like that, hang up immediately. Similarly, don’t reply to an email or text that seems at all suspicious, and don’t call a phone number listed in one.

*Nor should you necessarily trust a number found via Google search, chat room or social media. For the same reason, don’t ask Alexa on a smart speaker to connect you.

*To find out if there’s an actual issue with your account, contact the bank via a channel you know to be legitimate, like the customer service number printed on your bank statement or the back of a debit card.

Ways to bank online safely and avoid scams:

*Choose a unique account password. Don’t use the same or similar passwords across multiple websites.

*Make sure you’re on your bank’s genuine website — especially if you reached it via search, which scammers can game to usher you to a phony site. Check that the web address contains your bank’s true domain, with no extra or substituted characters.

*Read the security and privacy sections of your bank’s site. Get to know about alerts and other protections the bank makes available for online customers.

*Regularly review your bank statements and activity, and report anything that looks questionable to the bank, immediately.

AARP’s Fraud Watch Network can help you spot and avoid scams. Sign up for free Watchdog Alerts, review our scam-tracking map, or call our toll-free fraud helpline at 877-908-3360 if you or a loved one suspect you’ve been a victim.

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