When it comes to unknown numbers calling your home or mobile device, most of us just let it go to voicemail to see if it’s a legitimate call or a possible scam call. We want to remind you of the best practices to keep you, and your financial and/or personal information safe.
If something seems too good to be true, it may be. Recognizing the following red flags may help you avoid falling victim to fraud or a scam:
- They prey on urgency or fear and you are pressured to act right away.
- Gift cards are the required payment for goods or services.
- Requires payment or investment upfront, even for a 'free' prize.
- You are asked to overpay for an item and send back the difference.
- You are required to provide login credentials to your online banking.
- Insist on you wiring money via Western Union.
- An investment opportunity guarantees success and/or unusually high returns.
Trust your gut. If something doesn't feel right, reach out to a legitimate, trusted source.
Fraudsters will try anything to get your personal or financial information and have been known to go as far as impersonating your financial institution or credit card company.
It’s important to know that when CSE’s fraud monitoring representative gives you a call about potential fraud on your CSE debit and or credit card that we will NEVER ask you for your full personal or financial information. You would only be asked for partial information such as:
- The last four digits of your card number
- The last four digits of your social security number
- The most recent activity on your card to verify if the fraudulent transactions were yours or in fact fraud
If you’re ever not comfortable with a call that seems like they’re asking a little too much information, stop immediately, don’t give them any information, hang up and call that company directly from a phone number you trust or know is legitimate.
For more information about phone scams, check out the Federal Trade Commission’s article on how to recognize them and how to keep yourself safe, here.
For additional information on the most popular scams right now, check out CSE’s Identity Theft & Fraud Prevention webpage full of really good and important information for you to be aware of!
Tony Quart | Oct 1st 2021 @ 11:48 PM
Thank you very much for the warning and information. I personally always ignore any calls if I'm not familiar with the numbers. I sometimes will also look up the numbers on complaint board websites like http://phonebook.ai or simply Google the numbers, and block them if I found many people have reported the numbers as scam.
Jill Wilson | Nov 12th 2021 @ 11:06 AM
New phone scam, siting Fair lending law, will delete your debt. The more the guy tried to convince me the more it seemed shady. I said no several times and he just kept it up. I finally told him he needs to understand what no means and hung up.