Consumers Credit Union Senior Fraud Specialist Kristy DeSimone sits down with our podcast to describe how you can stay aware of text-based fraud and scams, and how you can keep your information safe!

 

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0:00:06.4 Lynne Jarman-Johnson (LJJ): Money I’m Home. Hi there, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union from finance to fitness we have it all. We also have an amazing series on fraud that we do every single month. Kristy Desimone is our fabulous fraud specialist. Kristy, thanks for joining us today!

0:00:23.9 Kristy Desimone (KD): Of course. Thanks for having me!

0:00:26.9 LJJ: Okay, so you know the iPhone, your Android phone, your phone has become really the majority of the way that you communicate throughout your day, that is what’s happening. And texting is absolutely a blessing for many, many people. You can have a group text with your friends and your family. But I’ll tell you what, now texting has also become the way that high tech is trying to get into our lives in a negative way. Kristy, tell us what’s going on.

0:00:55.8 KD: Yeah, so like today, I’ve gotten three fraud text messages saying, “Oh, a package couldn’t be delivered because your address is wrong, your Amazon account is going to be suspended.” I’ve had text messages from financial institutions I don’t have accounts at. And what they’re trying to do is get you to click a link and give your information out, so they’re able to scam you out of funds. And sometimes they’ll put a fancy verification code or, “Hey, this is your reference number” to make you feel like it’s more legitimate. But it is fraud, and there’s a lot of it going on at the moment.

0:01:30.3 LJJ: Well, I know that a team member of ours, that a family member had this exact thing happen and unfortunately went down the path and lost a considerable amount of money.

0:01:40.8 KD: And it spirals quickly, all of a sudden it goes from $500 to $1,000 to $2,000 before you even know what’s going on. And what we recommend doing is when you get a text message like that is to call the actual institution or go to that institution. Sometimes they’re spoofing our number, and you can always stop into an office and say, “Hey, is this you guys? Is something going on?” To let us know, “Hey, we’re getting text messages that are spoofing our number,” things like that. But never click on a link, it’s going to take you to a website that could look really legitimate, but isn’t.

0:02:14.7 LJJ: And what ends up happening is those helpful individuals on the other end are really trying to just get into your online banking. They’re trying to steal your money right in front of your eyes.

0:02:26.8 KD: Right. And they really try to pull on your heart strings or catch you emotionally off guard, so that you’re like, “Hey, this makes sense, like here’s everything, help me stop this from happening.” When in reality, they’re just scamming you out of that money.

0:02:40.0 LJJ: It’s scary to me how you know this is happening. You talk about something, let’s say, Kristy, you and I right now talk about a jar of pickles and I want to go out and I want to buy this hot new pickle taste, I don’t know.

0:02:56.5 KD: I love pickles!

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0:02:57.5 LJJ: So, all of a sudden I start getting ads all over the place on pickles, right? Well, what ends up happening is some of those are just trying to bait you because they think that you want this specific product. So, it’s your phone hearing you, your computer technology hearing you that just spooks me out.

0:03:17.5 KD: It really does. And I’ll tell you, my significant other bought a cat condo, we have two cats and they’re spoiled rotten. And he bought a cat condo and it was delivered and it was literally like a tea towel and a piece of plastic, it was a scam. It was completely not real, we had to dispute the charge with the credit card company. But it was this beautiful picture of this cat condo and it looked wonderful and it was on sale, and they really just scammed us out of money.

0:03:44.4 LJJ: Wow. And see, that’s really… I mean, it’s really hard to figure it out. I like… One of the things that you always say is, whatever you do look at the URL, look at the email. Because a lot of times it is different, but you don’t pay attention because you like the visual of what you’re seeing perhaps online. And you’re not seeing that Holy cow, that really isn’t even connected to that company.

0:04:08.9 KD: Right, and sometimes your brain will just auto-correct it before you even realize what’s happening, because it’s like we’re so used to it. But when I get the fraud text messages, they’re always from some random email address or something that doesn’t make sense. And if you pause and take a breath, you’re able to realize what’s going on.

0:04:26.8 LJJ: And it is important. Don’t just ignore those if you want to, you can block and report and that is okay. I do not feel uncomfortable doing that. Immediately do that, and if in the long run, it’s a legit they’re going to be able to contact you in a different way that makes you feel safe.

0:04:45.7 KD: Correct, 100%. And just know that Consumers Credit Union and other institutions aren’t asking for that information over text messaging. We’re never going to ask for that information, we’re never going to ask for a code or any of your personal information over text at all.

0:04:58.0 LJJ: That is absolutely true. So, if you have any questions, you know that you can reach out to Kristy and she’s always here, and also head to our website, we have some really wonderful content on our web that will focus on fraud and what you might be thinking is wrong. And don’t forget to call us, you know call into our call center or stop by any office, we will help you.

0:05:21.7 KD: Of course, we want to hear from you, we want to protect you, and we can only learn if you tell us what’s going on.

0:05:27.3 LJJ: And we are learning every single month. Kristy, thanks so why you’re joining us today.

0:05:32.8 KD: Thanks!

0:05:33.9 LJJ: And hey everybody, thanks so much for listening. We really do love it when we find out that we have kept you safe, and any time that you have a subject that you’d like us to talk about, maybe there was a scam that happened that you haven’t heard about yet, we sure do you want to inform all of our members. Money I’m Home with Lynne Jarman-Johnson and Consumers Credit Union. Thanks, Jack Esselink for your production skills, I hope everybody has a very safe and happy month.

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