By Patty Medina, Head Teller, Western State Bank of Leoti
Phone scams have been on the rise for many unsuspecting individuals over the past year. Whether related to your bank account, a frequently used website or app such as Amazon, or a state or government site such as the Department of Labor or Secretary of State, unusual calls or emails are unfortunately becoming commonplace.
The following tips will help you protect your information if you find yourself faced with a questionable situation:
- Remember that your financial institution will not reach out to you requesting your account number or debit card number since they are the issuer of such items.
- Large corporations such as Amazon or Microsoft will not personally call you if there is fraudulent activity with your account. They leave that job up to your financial institution.
- Be aware of your daily limit for usage on your debit card. Knowing this amount may help you reason through whether a call is legitimate or not.
- An ACH transfer will have to be initiated by you as the customer by providing your account number and a bank’s routing number. If you haven’t provided this information, it’s likely a scam attempting to get that information.
- If an unsolicited offer sounds too good to be true, it likely is.
For additional tips to protect yourself from fraud and keep your information safe, visit our Identity Theft and Fraud Protection page.