Scammers will use either the threat of consequences or the promise of a prize or monetary gain to get you worked up. They may call you saying they have detected fraudulent transactions on your account, or that you have won a prize and must give them your information to claim it. Statements like these should increase your skepticism, NOT your emotions. Scammers hope to get you so emotional that you stop thinking logically.

The next thing a scammer will do is apply pressure. Whatever the scenario is, there will be one common theme: urgency or scarcity. You need to act NOW to prevent any more fraudulent transactions on your account. You have won a prize, but there are only 2 left and if you wait and think about it, you’ll be too late. There is a once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity, but unless you wire the funds by noon, you will miss out. Legitimate businesses, as well as the government, will never pressure you for an immediate decision.

You should think of your personal information and passwords as assets that are just as valuable as the funds in your account. If a stranger called you and asked you to lend them money, it’s pretty unlikely you would be comfortable with that. You should be protecting your personal information in the exact same way – by ensuring the person, company, or website is who they say they are before supplying any information. If you have any concerns, get the caller’s name, company name and number, and hang up. Search the company online and verify they are legitimate and don’t have complaints against them. Find the website, call the number listed there, then you can ask to be transferred to the person you were speaking with. Now you have successfully confirmed that the company who contacted you is legitimate and the person actually works for the stated company.

Legitimate companies or government agencies will NEVER:

• Contact you to inform you there is a security breach on your personal computer and ask you to pay them to remove it or to give them remote access to your computer
• Ask you to read an authorization code texted to your mobile device back to them over the phone
• Ask you to deposit checks into your account and then send some of the money back to them
• Ask you to pay a fee to receive lottery winnings or prizes – this is ILLEGAL
• Contact you about an inheritance and offer to share the proceeds with you
• Contact you about an undelivered package and ask you to pay a fee to receive it
• Contact you out of the blue with threats or promises of money

When a scammer finally has you on the hook, they have one priority: to get your money before you realize what has happened and cancel the payment. They often do this by requesting payment in forms that are difficult to trace or cancel. If they request you make a payment in Bitcoin, gift cards/prepaid cash cards, or through P2P services like Venmo or Zelle, you should be extremely cautious, as these types of payments are difficult or impossible to reverse or cancel.

We will NEVER call and ask for:

• Online banking information
• Passwords
• Social Security Numbers
• Mother’s maiden name
• Address
• Phone number
• Other private personal information not related to your account

• Never open attachments or click on links in texts or emails from unknown or questionable senders.
• Look at the sending email addresses.
• Always use caution when making transactions to individuals you haven’t met in person.
• Never share personal information – including financial accounts – with anyone.

IF YOU GET A CALL REFERENCING AN EMAIL OR TEXT THAT IS SUSPICIOUS, HANG UP AND CALL US AT (207) 282-4156. DO NOT CALL THE ORIGINAL NUMBER BACK.