Suzanne Ashby has been a key leader at Freedom Credit Union for over 15 years. She began her career as a teller, progressed through operations, and now serves as Executive Vice President. Throughout her journey, Suzanne has developed training programs for frontline staff and streamlined systems for our back-office processes. Her deep expertise has led her to identify the nine most common ways our members can lose money to fraud—what we call the “Notorious Nine.”
Although fraud tactics are constantly evolving, these nine scams represent some of the most frequent and costly risks we see. Protecting our members from fraud is a daily priority, and we’ve successfully helped members avoid significant losses. However, there are cases where, despite our efforts, members still fall victim to fraud.
Ultimately, safeguarding your finances is a shared responsibility. As you review these common scams, remember that we are here to support you, but staying vigilant is essential, especially when it comes to protecting vulnerable loved ones like elderly parents or grandparents.
Take a look at the “Notorious Nine” and make sure you don’t fall victim to these common scams.
This information is primarily for internal use, but we hope you find it helpful when assisting family members or recognizing these common fraud tactics in everyday situations.
- Overpayment for Online Sales: The member is selling something online, and the buyer overpays. The member is instructed to use the extra funds for shipping costs and send the remaining money back to the buyer, who is actually a scammer.
- Purchasing Supplies: The member is asked to buy supplies for someone and return the excess funds. This often involves areas where the member has no prior involvement, such as being instructed to buy dental equipment despite having no connection to the dental industry.
- Secret Shopper Scam: The member is recruited as a “secret shopper” and given a check to cash. They are then instructed to send the cash via Western Union and rate the service.
- Personal Assistant Job: The member starts a new job as a personal assistant and receives a check for shopping and errands. They are told to keep a portion as payment and send the rest back to the employer.
- Moving Money Around: To make quick cash, the member helps someone “move money around.” The member withdraws cash and deposits it into an ATM for the scammer at another institution. This scam is often bolstered by a friend vouching for its legitimacy, but eventually, the member is tricked into transferring a much larger amount and loses money.
- Gift Card Scams: The member is instructed to buy gift cards and provide the numbers to the scammer, who claims to need them to unlock accounts on platforms like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. The member is promised reimbursement, which never happens.
- Unusual Cash Withdrawals: Watch for large cash withdrawals outside the member’s usual activity patterns, particularly among the elderly, who are frequently targeted by fraudsters.
- Suspicious Wire Transfers: Be cautious with wire transfers, especially those that don’t make sense for the member. Domestic wires with unusual purposes (e.g., an elderly member sending $100,000 for “electronics”) should raise red flags.
- Activity on Dormant Accounts: Fraudulent activity may occur on accounts that haven’t been used in a while. Members who are being scammed might use these accounts, hoping transactions will go unnoticed. Review the transaction history for any unusual deposits, such as mobile deposits or account transfers labeled as “Deposit,” and check how long the funds have been in the account before withdrawal attempts.
Learn more about elderly financial exploitation:
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