Members of the Southern Georgian Bay OPP detachment are teaming up with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) to warn locals about the rise of ‘bank investigator’ scams. According to Southern Georgian Bay OPP and the CAFC, ‘bank investigator’ scams involve fraudsters impersonating financial institutions, law enforcement or credit reporting agencies, claiming that a potential victim’s bank account has been compromised. Fraud experts say suspects sometimes show that they know a potential victim’s personal information (name, date of birth, social insurance number, debit card number, etc.) to seem legitimate. Suspects are also known to be spoofing financial institutions, law enforcement, and credit reporting agencies or providing fraudulent call-back numbers that impersonate the institutions. Scam Variations Southern Georgian Bay OPP and the CAFC outline three variations of bank investigator scams. The first involves a potential victim receiving an automated phone call claiming to be their financial institution, law enforcement, credit card reporting agency, or, in some cases, Amazon, advising of fraudulent transactions in their account. Suspects are then known to request access to the victim’s computer to ‘investigate’ and then show the falsely ‘fraudulent’ transactions. Fraud experts say the suspects then request the victim’s help to continue ‘investigating’ the criminals who stole their money, where they will ask the victim to send a large amount of money as part of the ‘investigation.’ The second variation involves suspects already gaining access to a potential victim’s debit card number and password but needing more information to get through multi-factor authentication. Suspects are then known to contact the victim, posing as their financial institution and advising the victim that they must provide a code via text or email to confirm their identity. The code provided by the victim gives suspects full access to their bank account. The third variation involves suspects advising a potential victim that they need their debit or credit card from their residence as part of an ‘investigation.’ Fraud experts say suspects will then go as far as going to a victim’s residence to pick up the card. They may even ask the victim to cut the card in half without damaging the chip to appear more legitimate. Suspects are also known to threaten victims that they may be arrested if they do not comply. Protecting Yourself Southern Georgian Bay OPP and the CAFC say criminals use call-spoofing to mislead victims, and, therefore, unfamiliar phone numbers on call displays should not be assumed to be legitimate. When receiving a call from someone claiming to be a financial institution, fraud experts suggest telling the caller that you will call them back, before ending the call and calling the number on the back of the debit card in question. Fraud experts remind potential victims that credit bureaus will never call customers randomly unless it is a requested call back, and that financial institutions and law enforcement will never make threats over the phone. Multi-factor authentication codes should never be shared, especially in writing via text or email. Suspects are also known to often provide the first four-to-six digits of a debit or credit card to appear legitimate, but most financial institutions use the same four to six numbers for their debit and credit cards. Institutions will also never request for funds to be transferred to an external account for security reasons. Police and fraud experts also suggest never providing remote access to your computer and confirm that law enforcement will never go to a private residence to pick up a bank card. Anyone suspecting of fraud or cybercrime should report it to their local police and to the CAFC.
