Unsure If Its A Scam You Can Now Check Online If Bank Accounts Have Been Reported Before
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In most cases, victims of online scams only realise theyve been taken for a ride after the transactions are done. Many a time, its heartbreaking because the money involved is not a small sum, but tens of thousands!
Thankfully, Malaysians can now determine whether the recipients account is trustworthy and avoid being scammed with the help of this portal.
Source: livemint
Heres the cool part:
This portal is actually run by Commercial Crime Investigation Department of PDRM and it allows us to check whether the recipients account was previously involved in online scams, according to FMT and Oriental Daily.
Through this portal, the public can check whether the bank accounts were previously reported to be involved in cheating. If there has been instances of cheating, it will be shown in the search box, CCIDs deputy director Ahmad Noordin said.
Heres how you use it:
If the bank account had previously been reported to the authority, a warning will pop up, like the picture below.
Source: oriental daily
Having said that, members of the public are still urged to be careful with who theyre dealing with even if theres no red flags. Always be wary guys! Currently, the portal got over 460,900 searches done by members of the public even though it is still in trial stage. Thats a huge figure!
Source:
What Scammers Do With Your Personal Information
With your personal information, scammers can:
- access and drain your bank account
- open new bank accounts in your name and take out loans or lines of credit
- take out phone plans and other contracts
- purchase expensive goods in your name
- steal your superannuation
- gain access to your government online services
- access your email to find more sensitive information
- access your social media accounts and impersonate you to scam your family and friends.
How Nigerian Letter/419 Scam Works
This scam typically begins with an unsolicited communication from someone pretending to be a Nigerian or foreign government officials. This “official” offers you a percentage in exchange for helping them deposit money in overseas bank accounts. You may be asked to send your account numbers, business letterhead stationery, or other kinds of information via a fax number they provide.
Avoid any offers which involve the complex transfer of funds, particularly if it involves sending money overseas. Don’t put your money, business identity or reputation at stake.
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Ask Yourself Why You Received The Check
If you received a check in the mail that seems odd, figure out whos giving you money and their motive. Research the person or company to see if the payment makes sense and check any emails you had with them.
Trust your instincts, says Sarah Grano, a spokesperson for the American Bankers Association. If something seems off, talk to your banker.
» Want to know about alternate payment methods? Learn why money orders can be a good option
Four Payment Methods That Scream Scam
A person contacting the consumer by telephone and requesting any of the following four forms of payment is almost certainly a scammer. Some of these payment methods are illegal even for legal telemarketing operations. Practitioners should be familiar with these somewhat exotic payment methods that may be used by scammers:
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If You Think Youve Spotted A Scam
If youve given away money or information because of a scam, there are things you should do. Check what to do if youve been scammed.
If you havent been scammed but youve seen something you think is a scam, you should report it. Find out how to report a scam.
If youre not sure if something is a scam, contact one of our scams advisers. They’ll give you advice about what to do next.
Phone Calls Text Messages Letters Faxes And Other Communications Fraudulently Using The Ups Name Or Brand
In addition to fraudulent websites and e-mails, fraudsters also may use the telephone, text messages, a fax machine, letters, or other communication methods in an attempt to gather your personal information. These fraudulent communications are the unauthorized actions of third parties not associated with UPS. Fraudulent communications claiming to be from UPS may claim to indicate a package is waiting to be delivered. These communications will generally ask you for personal information and/or a payment in advance of receiving a package, or may indicate a need to update your account by obtaining personal information or a copy of your UPS invoice. The links in the text messages may contain malware or direct to a fraudulent website.
If UPS contacts you regarding a package, the UPS representative will always be able to provide a tracking number, which you can verify on our website. You also should know that UPS may contact you from time to time regarding service offerings or for marketing purposes, but you may always verify our phone number and call back before proceeding.
If you are ever unsure of the validity of a communication, ask for the caller’s first and last name and a call-back telephone number.
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Inspect The Check And All Correspondence
Typos and poor grammar If the check, emails or text messages contain typos or poor grammar its a red flag.
Name of the bank Not all counterfeit checks will have a legitimate banks name. Use FDIC BankFind to locate FDIC-insured banking institutions in the United States. If youre not dealing with a legitimate bank, its a good sign the check is fake.
Mailing address If the postmark on the envelope isnt the same as the city and state of the bank, the check is likely to be fake.
Mismatched names Compare the name of the company posting the check with the name on the check. If they dont match, its a red flag.
Incorrect routing number Scammers often make careless mistakes such as using a wrong routing number or putting a check number in the top that doesnt match the one at the bottom.
Suspicious security features Scammers often produce realistic looking checks that are hard to identify as fake. However, they sometimes struggle to copy security features. Poor quality watermarks, security threads and other security features indicate the check is fake.
What To Do If Your Bank Account Has Been Hacked
If you suspect your information has already been compromised, the first step is to contact your bank. Let their customer service team know that your financial information may have ended up in the wrong hands. Keep your eye on your bank statement and look for transactions that you havenât made.
Be sure to check your online banking information to verify nothing has been changed. Reset all of your passwords to something secure and different than your existing passwords. Remember, access to one account can easily allow hackers to guess other accountsâ usernames and passwords. Use different, strong passwords for every account, especially when that account includes personal information or money.
Lastly, reach out to the three national credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. They can help you freeze your credit and alert you if there is suspected fraud. The Federal Trade Commission can also help you create a personal recovery plan if you submit a report.
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Oops I Sent You Money In Error Please Return It
You receive a transfer on Venmo, Cash App, Zelle®, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or a similar service from someone you dont know. The amount of this transfer may vary, but will probably be a few hundred dollars. Youll receive a message after the transfer claiming that it was sent by accident, and the sender will ask you to send the money back. You want to do the right thing so you refund them the accidental transfer amount, only to realize later you never received a transfer from them to begin with and now youve lost a few hundred dollars or more.
Dont send it back – tell them to cancel it. If you send funds, they will cancel at their end and the funds you received are gone, but they have the money you returned.
How To Protect Yourself From Bank Scams
Scams will likely be around for as long as people continue to fall for them. You can protect yourself and your bank account by following the tips below.
Dont cash checks for other people. You may want to help other people, but never cash a check in exchange for cash unless you know the person well.
Do your homework. Read and inspect everything. Whether its an email, text or arrives in another form, always read the fine print. If an offer looks suspicious or too good to be true, it probably is.
Dont share personal information. With the correct information, scammers can access almost every aspect of your life. This includes financial and other accounts, as well as stealing your identity. Never share account numbers, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers or passwords with anyoneunless you know the person or know its a legitimate request.
Avoid high-pressure sales tactics. Dont accept sales pitches that pressure you to act quickly without first reviewing the fine print.
Avoid paying fees. If youre sent any offers, prizes or job openings that require an up-front fee, chances are its a scam. The same goes for offers from unverified sources that require bank account information in order to redeem or claim them.
Use your best judgment. If something doesnt feel right to you, dont move forwardwhether its giving out personal information or clicking on an email link. If youve never received a phone call from the FTC before, think about why you would receive one now.
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Ways That Ticket Scammers Go After Your Money
Scammers, including individuals and fake resale companies, take advantage of ticket shortages by:
- Charging prices much higher than the face value of a ticket
- Creating counterfeit tickets with forged barcodes and logos of real ticket companies
- Selling duplicates of a legitimate ticket and emailing it to several buyers
- Pretending to sell tickets online to steal your credit card information
Types Of Fake Checks Scams
Fake checks are used in many types of scams. Here are some examples:
- Mystery shopping. Scammers pretend to hire people as mystery shoppers and tell them their first assignment is to evaluate a retailer that sells gift cards, money orders, or a money transfer service, like Western Union or MoneyGram. The shopper gets a check with instructions to deposit it in a personal bank account and wire it to someone else. But once the money is wired, the person on the other end can disappear.
- Personal assistants. People apply online and get hired as personal assistants. They get a check and are told to use the money to buy gift cards or to buy equipment or supplies for their new client. Once the scammers get the gift card PIN numbers, they use them instantly, leaving the personal assistant without the money when the bank figures out the check is bad.
- Car wrap decals. People interested in car wrap advertising are told to deposit checks and send money to decal installers who dont exist.
- Claiming prizes. Sweepstakes winners are given checks and told to send money to cover taxes, shipping and handling charges, or processing fees. But thats not how legitimate sweepstakes work.
- Overpayments.People buying something from you online accidentally send a check for too much and ask you to refund the balance.
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Escalate Your Complaint To The Financial Ombudsman Service
Even if your bank refuses to reimburse you, all hope isnt lost.
You can still escalate your complaint to the financial ombudsman who will investigate what happened, what your bank did, what the receiving bank did and whether anyone is at fault.
In the last quarter of 2018, the financial ombudsman upheld 62% of complaints made by scam and fraud victims.
But it can take up to a year for your case to be decided on because of the volume of complaints the financial ombudsman receives. Which? has been assured theyre working to clear this backlog.
What Is Email Fraud/spam
For many fraudsters, the purpose of spamming is to get personal or business information that can be used to steal your money and/or your identity. Never send your personal or business information to an unknown source via email. Criminals may try to get information from you or your business by claiming that an offer is only good if you buy now or if you give them your personal or business information right away. No legitimate business would deny you the time to check out their claims.
If you don’t know the source of an email, delete it. Even if a friend or co-worker sends you a link or an attachment, it may be infected.
Keep your computer firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spyware software up to date.
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Spotting And Avoiding Card Scams
If youre shopping online there are a lot of things you can do to protect yourself.
Most importantly, make sure your antivirus and operating system software is up to date.
Dont use websites which only have http in the address rather than https and never use public Wi-Fi in coffee shops or shopping centres to shop online or use online banking.
Strong passwords can also help you protect your online accounts.
Fake Check Scams: How To Spot Fake Checks And Protect Yourself
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If you receive a surprise check in the mail or an accidental overpayment, or if you qualify for a quick and easy gig, you might feel richer at first. But be careful, or you could end up scammed out of your own money.
» Learn more about how to prevent identity theft
Fewer people use checks these days, but check fraud is still a concern. Banks lost $1.3 billion due to check fraud in 2018, according to the most recent data from the American Bankers Association’s Demand Deposit Account Fraud Survey.
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Laws Applicable To Payments Directly Out Of The Consumers Bank Prepaid Or P2p Account
Today there are varied ways for a scammer to be paid directly out of the consumers bank account without the use of a paper check signed by the consumer. The consumers legal rights will vary by the method used.
The EFTA and Regulation E cover a wide variety of electronic fund transfers , including those made through the ACH system, debit or prepaid card payments, consumer initiated push payments like Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo, and wire transfers made through a bank . SeeNCLCs Consumer Banking and Payments Law Chapter 5.
Payments from prepaid card accounts are covered by most of the same rules that govern bank accounts. Many person-to-person systems, such as Venmo and PayPal, are technically prepaid accounts. For more on prepaid accounts, see NCLCs Consumer Banking and Payments Law Chapter 7.
As discussed above, RCCs are covered by state UCC laws. The coverage of RCPOs has not been resolved, and technically they are likely EFTs, but in practice the are indistinguishable from RCCs and banks will treat them like checks.
Scam Example: Your Banks Fraud Team Give You A Call
You believed you were speaking with your bank and didnt realise what you told them gave them access to your account.
Because of that, in this instance its likely the financial ombudsman will consider this to be an unauthorised transaction.
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Banking Scams: How Scammers Gain Access To Your Bank Account Information
When we put our money in the bank, we usually dont think twice about it. We think that its safe within our banking accounts and that we have our debit card to use while making the purchases we need. We usually dont think that anything could go wrong with that until a scammer figures out a way to access our online bank accounts. As the coronavirus continues to plague our nation, we are having to deal with scammers figuring out every clever way they can to invade our bank accounts and steal our hard-earned cash in these never-ending banking scams.
Where To Complain About Payments From The Consumers Bank Account
When payment to a scammer comes from a bank account, whatever the method of payment to the scammer, consumers should immediately contact their bank to see if the bank can stop the transaction or otherwise return the money to the consumer. If the payment was initiated from PayPal, the Cash App, or another payment system, the consumer should complain there too.
Even if the payment cannot be stopped and there is no legal right to reverse it, the consumer should insist that the bank take a complaint, investigate, and forward the complaint to the bank or check casher on the receiving end. While the money may not have gone directly into an account owned by the scammer , the receiving institution should be told that the account is being used for fraudulent purposes. That institution may have ways of freezing or recovering funds.
In addition to complaining to the bank, especially if the loss is large, the consumer should immediately file a complaint with the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. The center will refer the matter to the appropriate agency. If the consumer transferred a large amount of money and provides full financial transaction information, the FBIs Recovery Asset Team may be triggered. According to its 2019 annual report, in more than 1300 instances where RAT was triggered, the team had a recovery rate of nearly 80%. The consumer should also submit a complaint to the CFPB at .
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