This week Lynne Jarman-Johnson is joined by Consumers Fraud Specialist Kristy Desimone to discuss online fraud and how you can protect yourself against scammers!

 

[music]

0:00:07.1 Lynne Jarman-Johnson (LJJ): Money, I’m home, welcome in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union, from finance to fitness, and making sure you don’t get fraud in any way in your life. [chuckle] That’s what we’ve got with Money, I’m home. Hey, joining us right now is Kristy Desimone. Now Kristy been with us, we’re doing a series on fraud prevention, we have had so many great comments, Kristy, about your information and the background that you have, thanks for being with us today.

0:00:32.8 Kristy Desimone (KD): Yeah, of course. So happy to be here with everybody.

[chuckle]

0:00:36.2 LJJ: Now, I’ll tell you what, you’ve got a really important topic, because I know for a fact that there are times when even I will be… And I’m pretty… I think I’m pretty knowledgeable about fraud, but I’ll be surfing, or all of a sudden I’ll get an email and something online catches my attention and I click on it, and then all of a sudden I realize, Oh my goodness, this is someone trying to defraud me. Things look so real though, like you might see a PayPal account, that you are on PayPal, but it’s really not PayPal. What’s going on out there?

0:01:11.5 KD: Yeah, so a lot of times fraudsters use banners of different companies to appear like they’re from Microsoft or Norton in order to gain access and say, “Hey, we need to take a look at your computer.” Sometimes they can ask you to download apps and things that give them, the ability to remote into your computer, and then they can see everything, your online banking, all of that stuff, so it can be kind of scary out there.

0:01:35.7 LJJ: I like the fact… You know, we’re extremely careful at Consumers, which sometimes can be frustrating if you’re… If you all of a sudden have all these two-factor authentication, things like that. But it’s very important when you’re thinking about your own finances, how important it is to stay on top of what those fraudsters are trying to do online.

0:01:55.8 KD: Right, it really is. And number one thing that they do these days is online loan scams, where they ask you for your information, they’re like, “Hey, we’re going to give you a loan, we’re here to help you out, we know this time is tough.” And they’ll ask for your username and password to your online banking. And right there, that’s the number one thing we tell members is any reputable loan company is never going to ask for that information specifically. So, they’ll login and deposit a fraud check and ask the member to send some funds back via a gift card. It’s heartbreaking, because people are like, I just need to make ends meet and I just need to get from point A to point B, and we have to be that one to say, “Hey, these people are not actually who they say they are.”

0:02:35.9 LJJ: It’s interesting too, because if someone’s feeling that way, that they’re so pressured that they think that there’s going to be this easy fix, that’s really when it’s important to come in and talk to someone at Consumers. We can help out during those times when you’re feeling pressure, and we don’t want you to get involved in these scams.

0:02:56.7 KD: Right. We offer so many great different opportunities for members to try and catch up. We have a great collections team that works with members and really tries to get them back on track if something’s happened. So, in those moments where you’re like, I really need some help, just stop into an office, right? Just come in and talk to us before trying to find an option online through a loan company, to come and talk to us first and see what we can help you with.

0:03:21.3 LJJ: You know, I love to say that it’s time to stop being worried about talking openly about money. That you can have an open conversation, a trusted conversation with someone who can help you out. I give an example of being at a dinner party a couple of weeks ago, and a very reputable individual who is doing everything right in their life and got caught up in something that was a scam, was so embarrassed. And the point is, there is not embarrassment there. There is instead is how can you get out of this and how can you see the signs and what are those red flags, Kristy?

0:04:01.8 KD: Right, and the big red flag is asking to send money back in any shape or form, especially with gift cards. I’ve seen an increase in fraudsters wanting gift cards, so they’ll say, “Hey, go buy a bunch of these gift cards, scrape off those back numbers, send them to me,” and the worst part is, is once those funds are gone, they’re gone, if you can’t get funds back to the gift card. So that is a huge red flag and asking for any of your information for online banking or even your personal email information for a password and your email, right there is a huge red flag that something is not right, and you need to pause and just think about it and reach out to us.

0:04:42.3 LJJ: You know, when you hear of these things, Kristy, how long does it take to kind of get out of the system? Like, is there any… Let’s say… You had mentioned right at the beginning about somebody who can come on and all of a sudden attach something to your computer, how do you know if that’s even the case until it’s too late?

0:04:58.0 KD: Well, sometimes I’ve heard members talk about how they’re like, “I don’t even have this service, but I called anyway, it’s just like, Hey, it’s on my computer,” and then all of a sudden a light bulb went off and said, Oh my gosh, I don’t have this service, I don’t have this power company, why are they calling me? So that’s a great way to think about it too, like, is it something that you use personally? If it’s not, then close that laptop and then call us and figure it out from there. But it can be really convincing, which is why I think people get embarrassed is that it is so convincing, but they think they’re the only ones that fall for it. And we know that that’s not true.

0:05:36.6 LJJ: I just mentioned PayPal. So, here’s a great example, right? If you have a PayPal account, and Kristy just mentioned, all of a sudden you get this beautiful email that says, we need to check on something very important in your account, and you know, you’re thinking, “Well, I’m going to use it, so yeah, I want to check on it.” I literally click the button, but you know what I remembered, Kristy?

0:05:56.0 KD: What?

0:05:57.6 LJJ: I remembered your education. I remembered you said look at the URL.

0:06:00.9 KD: Yeah.

0:06:01.2 LJJ: Make sure that the URL is literally what it says it is, and mine wasn’t even close, and I kind of grinned and I said, “Thank you, Kristy!”

0:06:09.6 KD: Yes.

[laughter]

0:06:10.9 LJJ: Because this… You know, anybody this can happen too.

0:06:14.4 KD: Right, and typically, I don’t click on any links in emails, because I don’t feel comfortable doing that. I will then go into the company’s website and find their contact number and reach out to them that way, because you can’t… They look so convincing that you’re like, I’m ready to click on this.

[chuckle]

0:06:30.7 LJJ: Well, and the funny thing is, you’re trusting, right?

0:06:32.5 KD: Yeah.

0:06:33.2 LJJ: You want to be trusting with the company that you think it is, and be helpful, and yet all you’re doing is falling into this trap of people who… That’s what they expect, they expect you to be trusting.

0:06:43.5 KD: Right, exactly.

[chuckle]

0:06:47.9 LJJ: So, give us a couple of our ideas of making sure if we’re looking at something online and then online loan, you’re saying the big thing right now is not credit cards, but gift cards that people are asking for…

0:06:56.1 KD: Yeah.

0:06:57.0 LJJ: That just seems… It seems like a lot of work too, by the way.

0:07:00.3 KD: Right. [chuckle] I know we see people travel to multiple stores because you have limits on how much you can buy at a single store. So, if you find yourself traveling to multiple different stores in order to make up for some type of money you have to send someone, there needs to be a pause moment, ‘Hey, why am I doing this? Why am I driving to six, seven stores to get gift cards for someone that I don’t know.” Right? Someone you’ve never met.

0:07:25.9 LJJ: And you know what? If you are listening and you have done that or you know someone who has done that, please feel free, whether you’re a member or not, stop in our office, or call us, we can help you out. We can at least help you get back to feeling like you’re in control of your finances.

0:07:42.4 KD: Right, agreed. And sometimes, too, stores have started to put signs up that say, “Hey, if you’re purchasing a gift card for someone you don’t know or to give money to somebody, stop for a second and let us know, so that we can help you out,” because it is so common these days.

0:07:56.5 LJJ: Well, Kristy, thank you so much and we’re going to be back next month and we’re going to be focusing again, what’s our topic next month?

0:08:03.1 KD: Our topic is going to be, “Oh no, I’m scammed. What do I do now?” And we’ll give you some tips on what to do in order to recover from that.

0:08:09.0 LJJ: Kristy Desimone, she is… I’m telling you, a fraud specialist doesn’t even come close to saying what your gifts are. Thank you so much.

0:08:16.1 KD: Thanks, Lynne.

0:08:18.7 LJJ: I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union from finance to fitness, Money, I’m home. Thank you, Jake Esselink for your production skills. Hope everybody has a great week.

[music]