SHELBY COUNTY, Ala. (WBMA) — Bank accounts were drained and thousands of dollars were lost. If the caller ID includes a bank name, experts say they assume it's spoofed by a scammer on the other end.
There are other sneaky ways scammers can hack your phone and access your banking information. One local business owner shared his story to warn others. “The $172,000 boom is gone,” said Joshua Capps, who owns a roofing company in North Shelby County. Capps said he is still trying to recover at least some of that money, which was stolen from Regions' business account last March.
The FBI tracked the hacker to Arizona using deposits at three banks: JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Green Dot Bank. How did they get access? “My iPhone was hacked and they got into my personal notes with my passwords and login information. I never thought in a million years that someone would have access to it.” There wasn't any,” Capps explained.
Capps said the bank sent a verification code via text message, which was then sent directly to the scammer. “Hopefully I get my $100,000 back. It's definitely a big hit,” Capps said. The fraudulent account is currently suspended as the FBI works to investigate the incident. The process takes time.
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He advises not to save such information on your phone, and if you do, set a password on your notes file. Business fraud insurance is also available, along with security technology to block hackers.
In another type of scam, Bob Trevan's friend Judy Martinez received a call in California from someone claiming to be from Wells Fargo's fraud department and asking her to verify her account. It was a spoof. The impostor's phone appeared to be a trusted bank phone number on the caller ID.
“The follow-up to this is that although the bank worked to investigate, they will not be able to get this money back because you said you willingly provided this information.In the end, this family It turns out we lost $147,000,” Trevan explained. He says it's very frustrating that so many people lose their hard-earned money so quickly.
Rampant bank fraud has attracted the attention of Congress. “They target vulnerable Americans to the tune of $9 billion a year. Alabamians have lost $65 million,” Sen. Katie Britt said during a Banking Committee hearing last week.
Industry leaders are driving awareness through campaigns like BanksNeverAsk. “My father is 86 years old, and if his caller ID says bank, he thinks it's his bank. We need to stop that,” said Paul Benda of the American Bankers Association. Told. Benda says too often consumers are confident that they will willingly hand over their login credentials. “These guys are very good at what they do,” Benda explained.
He is calling on the telecommunications industry to ensure that caller IDs are accurate. If your authentication is degraded, you should see “Unknown”.
