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Cyber Scams


  • Banks will never ask for your PIN or Password over the phone, by email, or by text.
  • Banks will never ask for your account number over the phone, by email, or by text.
  • Banks will never ask for your Social Security number over the phone, by email, or by text.
  • Banks will never ask you to click on a suspicious link.
  • If you get an email, text, or phone call asking you to call a number, DON'T call it.  Call instead the number on your bank-issued card.
  • Beware of scare tactics.  Your bank will never pressure or threaten you to contact them.
  • Watch for misspelled words.  This is often a giveaway of a scam.
For more information, including interactive games to test your ability to spot scams, go to BanksNeverAskThat.com.
Millions of people use online dating apps or social networking sites to meet someone. But instead of finding romance, many find a scammer trying to trick them into sending money. 
 
Romance scammers adjust their story to what they think will work in each situation.
  • Scammers say they can’t meet you in person. They might say they’re living or traveling outside the country, working on an oil rig, in the military, or working with an international organization.
  • Scammers will ask you for money. Once they gain your trust, they’ll ask for your help to pay medical expenses (for them or a family member), buy their ticket to visit you, pay for their visa, or help them pay fees to get them out of trouble. They may even offer to help you get started in cryptocurrency investing.
  • Scammers will tell you how to pay. All scammers, not just romance scammers, want to get your money quickly. And they want your money in a way that makes it hard for you to get it back. They’ll tell you to wire money through a company like Western Union or MoneyGram, put money on gift cards (like Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, or Steam) and give them the PIN codes, send money through a money transfer app, or transfer cryptocurrency. 
Scammers do these things to pressure you into acting immediately by paying money. But it’s a scam.

Beware! This is how it works:

  • Perpetrators will contact you out of nowhere via text messages, dating apps, social media platforms, and later switch to VOIP chat applications.
  • Perpetrators will try to develop meaningful relationships with you, gain your trust, and offer you high-yield investment opportunities in virtual assets, such as cryptocurrency.
  • Perpetrators will tell you to open accounts on online investment websites and instruct you to deposit money via wire transfer to shell companies, or direct transfers on legitimate virtual asset service providers (VASPs) or cryptocurrency exchanges.
  • Perpetrators will pressure you to invest more money, or your relationship with them will end.
  • You can be duped and the fraud will end: When you attempt to withdraw money, websites may demand that you pay additional fees to do so; or you may be locked out of the account and never hear back from the perpetrator. Perpetrators disappear with all of your funds.
REPORT: If you suspect you are a victim of a Pig Butchering Scam, notify your bank immediately. Contact your local police department and file a police report. File a complaint on the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): https://www.ic3.gov.
 
Learn more about this crime along with other ongoing cybercrime threats at