Digital scams and fraud reported by banks are increasing, and not all involve new technology. Many of these deceptions involve low-tech human error.
Fraud involves an unauthorized person accessing your bank account to make purchases or other transactions. While scams occur when a criminal tricks a person into sending money under false pretenses.
Social engineering scams involve a fraudster attempting to trick a victim into sending them money. This cybercrime may occur as phishing (by email), vishing (voice messages), or smishing (text messages).
To protect yourself, cybersecurity experts suggest the following:
Confirm that a sender’s email is valid. Scammers use similar but slightly different email addresses than the official ones.
Don’t click on suspicious links, which could result in going to a false website.
Be skeptical of messages with generic greetings and signatures; also, beware of poor grammar and spelling in the message.
Avoid downloading attachments in suspicious, unsolicited messages.
Verify money requests. Be sure to look up a company’s legitimate phone number and address online rather than the one provided in an email.
Beware of the safety of your phone and home computer. You may have accidentally checked a box in the past to allow access to what you thought was a “trusted” device.
For additional information on bank scams and fraud, click here.
Teaching Suggestions
Have students talk to others to obtain suggestions for avoiding scams and fraud.
Have students create a one-minute podcast with a scam example and how to avoid it.
Discussion Questions
What suggestions might be offered to a bank or credit union to help them inform their customers about how to avoid scams and fraud?
Describe actions a person might take if they were a victim of a scam or fraud.
No one is exempt from being a victim of fraud, not even a financial advice columnist. Charlotte Cowles, a writer for New York Magazine, had reported about the scam experiences of others but then she became a target.
In October of 2023, as Charlotte began her normal weekday routine, she received a phone call at about noon. The caller, who was professional and articulate, was contacting Charlotte about suspicious activity on her Amazon account. Charlotte was told that thousands of dollars of electronic equipment had been bought through her Amazon business account. When Charlotte told the caller she didn’t have a business account, the caller said, “it looks like one has been opened under your name.”
Next, Charlotte was introduced to a person who claimed to be an investigator from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This person established credibility by providing Charlotte’s address, social security number, and names of family members. The alleged FTC person indicated that Charlotte was being investigated for fraud, money laundering, and other criminal activity since her identity was stolen and being used by others. Dangers to Charlotte and her family were also mentioned.
While Charlotte thought she was being conned, there were no red flags such as asking for money or buying crypto. Next, she was told her assets would need to be frozen but first to withdraw enough to live on for a year ($50,000). The bank teller was surprised at the amount but completed the transaction.
She was next told that she would be met by a “CIA colleague” to make sure she and the money were safe. She was assured that the money would be deposited into a new bank account for her. The entire process took place over a six-hour period. Throughout the ordeal Charlotte felt increasing fear for herself and her family, which is why she followed the instructions of these alleged government officials. The next day she was to have an appointment at the social security office, which never occurred. This is when Charlotte realized she was conned.
She then contacted her brother, a lawyer, and filed reports with the police, FBI, and FTC. Charlotte contacted her bank to secure her other assets but won’t be getting her $50,000 back. She also ran anti-virus software to check for malware on her computer and changed the locks on her apartment door.
Despite her previous knowledge of scams and fraud, these circumstances seemed different and real to Charlotte. When telling her story publicly, people were shocked since Charlotte was far from the “typical” victim. Her online persona and easy access to personal information by scammers was the basis of the scam. Charlotte noted “the psychological aftermath of being scammed is devastating. It’s such a violating experience and a lot of people have real anxiety and paranoia afterwards. They also feel ashamed, so these scams are wildly under-reported as a result. But if telling my story helps lift the guilt and shame for others, that’s also very gratifying.” We are all vulnerable.
For additional information on this scam story, click here.
Teaching Suggestions
Have students talk to others to learn about any experiences with fraud or scams.
Have students create a podcast or visual proposal (poster or slide presentation) with suggestions for avoiding identity theft and scams.
Discussion Questions
What actions might have been taken to avoid this scam?
Describe actions you might take to avoid identity theft and scams.
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. Scammers use your Social Security number (SSN) to get other personal information about you. They can use your SSN and your good credit to apply for more credit in your name. Then, when they use the credit cards and don’t pay the bills, it damages your credit. You may not find out that someone is using your SSN until you’re turned down for credit, or you begin to get calls from unknown creditors demanding payment for items you never bought.
Your SSN is confidential. The agency protects your SSN and keeps your records confidential and it does not give your number to anyone, except when authorized by law. You should be careful about sharing your number, even when you’re asked for it. You should ask why your number is needed, how it’ll be used, and what will happen if you refuse. The answers to these questions can help you decide if you want to give out your SSN.
How might someone steal your SSN? Scammers get your personal information by:
• Stealing wallets, purses, and your mail (bank and credit card statements, preapproved credit offers, new checks, and tax information). • Stealing personal information you provide to an unsecured site online, from business or personnel records at work, and personal information in your home. • Rummaging through your trash, the trash of businesses, and public trash dumps for personal data. • Buying personal information from “inside” sources. For example, a scammer may pay a store employee for information about you that appears on an application for goods, services, or credit. • Posing by phone, email, text, or direct messages in social media as someone who legitimately needs information about you, such as employers, landlords, or government agencies.
Ask students to make a list of actions they can take to protect their Social Security number.
Ask students if they or their family members have their Social Security number stolen. What was the outcome and how they might be protecting their number now?
Discussion Questions
Why is it important to protect your Social Security number?
How most people discover that their Social Security number has been stolen? What should they do?
An add-on CD (certificate of deposit) is a specialty CD that allows you to add more money to the account after the initial deposit. Similar to a standard CD, the additional deposits earn the fixed rate until the CD matures. Add-on CDs are offered by some banks, credit unions, and online financial institutions.
The main benefits of add-on CDs are: (1) a fixed interest rate, especially important if market rates decline; (2) a lower initial deposit may be required than with a traditional CD; (3) additional deposits can be made to grow your long-term savings.
Potential drawbacks are: (1) the fixed rate will be lower if interest rates rise during the term of the CD; (2) a traditional CD may have a higher rate; (3) early withdrawal penalty may apply; (4) add-on CDs may not be available at many financial institutions.
For savings flexibility, consider a CD ladder. With this plan, instead of buying one large CD, buy several smaller CDs with varied maturity dates. For example, instead of buying a one-year, $4,000 CD, buy four separate $1,000 CDs maturing in three, six, nine, and twelve months. This action provides flexibility to be able to access funds when needed without paying an early withdrawal penalty. Then, you can use the funds as needed or renew the CD. If interest rates are high, you might consider a longer-term CD to lock in the higher rate.
To open an add-on CD, search online for financial institutions that offer this savings plan, which will be especially beneficial if you don’t initially have all the funds necessary for a traditional CD. CDs are most recommended when interest rates are high, to lock in a good rate for a longer period. Also consider deposit amount requirements and penalties when comparing CDs and other savings plans.
Your emergency fund should be kept in an account with more liquidity than a CD. Also, once you have an adequate savings amount, be sure to consider higher return investments such as mutual funds and stocks.
Many bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans have add-on fees to confuse consumers resulting in higher amounts paid for these services. A recent experiment conducted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was designed to study these fees. The research results suggested that consumers pay more when prices are separated into multiple fees with a complex pricing structure.
While the study may not exactly reflect real-world transactions, the CFPB study indicated that more complex pricing mostly led to more expensive outcomes. Key findings included: (1) higher total prices with sub-prices than one total price; and (2) difficulty in comparing prices among different financial-service providers.
The fees and charges that consumers may encounter with financial services include:
Credit cards are affected by interest rates, late fees, balance transfer fees, annual fees, cash advance fees, and foreign exchange fees. Cards with introductory 0% APR periods are usually followed by much higher APRs. Credit card reward programs often have varied methods for earning points and redemption rules.
Checking and savings accounts can have monthly maintenance fees, minimum balance fees, overdraft fees, and wire transfer fees; complex tiered interest rates based on account balances; and “free” checking accounts” may require minimum balances, recurring direct deposits, or other restrictions.
Mortgages are available with a wide range of interest rates, fees, and terms affected by loan type, credit score, down payment, and closing costs.
Auto loans will have varied interest rates based on a credit score, loan term, down payment, and vehicle type. Lenders may offer promotional rates or cash-back incentives, or add-on products such as extended warranties, gap insurance, and credit life insurance.
To guide wise use of financial services, be sure to: (1) ask for a total cost with clear information of what is included; (2) compare different financial-service providers, including banks, credit unions, and FinTech companies; (3)Bottom of Form search for no- or low-minimum balance checking accounts and no-fee credit cards; (4) use ATMs in your bank’s network; and (5) avoid overdraft charges by linking your checking account to savings.
For additional information on complexity of financial service fees, go to:
Have students talk to others to learn about their experiences with high fees for various financial services.
Have students conduct online research to compare fees and restrictions for various financial services at banks, credit unions, and other financial-service providers.
Discussion Questions
When selecting a financial service, what factors would you consider when making your final choice?
What actions can a person take to avoid high banking fees?
There is no such thing as a risk-free trade or investment. Generally, bigger expected returns come with a greater risk of loss. The more you understand the risks of your investment, the more effectively you can minimize their potential effects. Here are some common risks associated with digital assets:
1. Unsupervised trading. Over-the-counter cash-market trading platforms—where you can buy or sell digital assets for dollars—are not supervised by regulators like other exchanges, banks, or brokers.
2. Inconsistent customer protections. Some virtual currency platforms may be missing critical system safeguards and customer protections, such as protection against hacks or segregating customer assets. Without adequate safeguards, you may lose some or all of your digital assets.
3. Commingled customer assets. Over-the-counter trading platforms are commonly custodians of your assets. When you trade, you trade against the platform and your funds are held and recorded by the platform on its centralized system—not the blockchain. In these situations, your assets may be mixed with other customers’ assets, or could be used by the platform for operational purposes. If the platform is hacked, goes bankrupt, or disappears, you may not be able to get your money back.
4. Most new projects fail. And, others could be frauds. Take time to research and understand the project, the technology, use-case, demand, competing projects, governance, who’s behind the effort, the developers’ track records, how your money will be used, and when or if you can get it back. Was the code audited by a reliable third party and security tested? Closely review white papers and other documents. If they don’t make sense, or don’t exist, walk away.
5. Hacker attacks. In a digital environment hacking is always a threat. Hackers generally seek out the greatest amount of money and the least resistance. Only keep funds you are ready to spend or trade in wallets connected to the internet. Keep the rest in a cold (offline) wallet.
6. Phishing attacks. If you receive an email or text about your trading account; a transaction; a new product, wallet, or service; or receive an urgent request to contact customer support, do not click any links, open attachments or use QR codes. Phishing attacks often pose as popular brands or companies and the links provided in the emails go to imposter sites that steal your account.
7. Lost or stolen private keys. Your private key is your digital signature. If it is lost or stolen you will no longer have access to your assets. You can recreate a private key, with your digital wallet’s seed phrase—a string of words that when encrypted create the private key. Never give your private key or seed phrase to anyone.
8. New and novel. Compared to other forms of investing, digital assets are relatively new. They don’t have long, historical track records, which makes it harder to predict how they will react in different market conditions.
9. High volatility. Many digital assets are difficult to value. Uncertainty, changes in sentiment, economic conditions, or even a social media comment, can send market values rising or falling sharply.
10. Liquidity risk. It may be hard to sell digital assets that aren’t commonly traded. Lightly traded assets are also easier to manipulate.
11. Run risk. Stablecoins are not insured, and may not actually be supported by all the stabilizing assets they claim. If stablecoin owners lose confidence and rush for the exits, the panic could lock out some customers and leave them with worthless coins. Runs on one stablecoin can also cause ripple effects in other coins or other parts of the digital economy.
12. Counterparty risk. Blockchain transactions were designed to be unchangeable. Once your digital asset is sent to another wallet you cannot get it back. This makes knowing exactly who is on the other side of a transaction critically important. There are no do-overs or charge-backs.
13. Watch out on social media. Most digital asset scams begin on social media or messaging apps. Never make digital asset payments to people you meet online. And don’t rely solely on tips or claims you see on social media platforms.
14. Data can be manipulated. Criminals can hack social media profiles or easily create new aliases. Fraudulent platforms can also control what you see on their websites or trading apps, and can manipulate you to trade or invest more.
Debit cards do not provide the same protection as credit cards when lost or stolen. As a result, money experts recommend not using a debit card in these situations:
When buying airline tickets; if the airline goes out of business, you may have no recourse for a refund.
Non-bank ATMs are more likely to have skimmers that steal debit card information.
When making a gas station purchase a hold may be put on funds in your bank account, which could result in Bottom of Forman overdrawn balance when trying to make other purchases.
Use a credit card for online buying for stronger legal protection to dispute a charge.
In restaurants with high turnover, a dishonest employee may get access to your card number; again, a credit card provides more protection.
When buying appliances a credit card may give you an extra warranty, which would not be
available with a debit card.
With a debit card you can be responsible for up to $50 of unauthorized transactions if you report a lost or stolen card within two business days. Then, your liability can be as high as $500 for fraudulent charges if you don’t report the situation within 60 days after receiving your statement. After that, you have the potential of unlimited losses for unauthorized use of your debit card. In contrast, with a credit card, you are not responsible for unauthorized charges of more than $50.
Consider only using your debit card to withdraw cash to make purchases. Since not everyone will take a cash-only approach to control spending, there is another action to protect yourself. Use a second checking account for your debit card. Fund this second account only with money that you plan to use for debit card activity. Then, in case of a lost card or fraud, you would only lose the smaller amount kept in that second account with your main checking account not at risk.
For additional information on debit cards, click here.
Teaching Suggestions
Have students survey several people to determine common uses of debit cards.
Have students create a podcast to warn others of the dangers associated with debit cards.
Discussion Questions
Why should consumers become more aware of the potential dangers of debit cards?
What actions do you take to protect your debit and credit cards?
Identity theft affects millions of people each year and can cause serious harm. Protect yourself by securing your personal information, understanding the threat of identity theft, and exercising caution.
Here are 10 things you can start doing now to protect yourself and your loved ones from identity theft:
Create strong, unique passwords so others can’t easily access your accounts.
Never give your personal or financial information in response to an unsolicited call or message, and never post it on social media.
Shred paper documents that contain personal information, like your name, birth date, and Social Security number.
Protect your mobile device from unauthorized access by securing it with a PIN, adding a fingerprinting feature, or using facial recognition.
Regularly check your financial accounts for suspicious transactions.
Avoid internet threats by installing and maintaining strong anti-virus software on all your devices—including your mobile device and personal computer. Use a virtual private network (VPN) to stay safe on public Wi-Fi.
Protect yourself on social media by customizing your security settings and deleting accounts you no longer use.
Never click on any link sent via unsolicited email or text message—type in the web address yourself. Only provide information on secure websites.
The Social Security Administration encourages you to create your own personal my Social Security account to track your earnings record. For more information, read Social Security Administration (SSA} publication, Protecting Personal Information. Contact SSA if you see suspicious work activity on your record–you could be a victim of identity theft.
Tired of getting endless robocalls? Robocalls aren’t just a pain to get, they’re often pushing scams for bogus services such as fake extended auto warranties and debt relief. But robocallers can’t do it alone. That’s why the Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Stratics Networks, a company that supplied the technology for telemarketers to make tens of millions of robocalls. But that’s not all — the FTC is also suing the debt relief companies that hired Stratics to make robocalls for their illegal debt relief services.
According to the FTC, Stratics delivered illegal robocalls for telemarketers promoting offers for credit card and student debt relief, home buying, health insurance, and cable TV discounts. Many robocalls were “ringless voicemails” — where your phone doesn’t ring but you get a voicemail with a robocall message.
Here’s what to know: a robocall trying to sell you something is illegal unless the company has your written permission to call you. Scammers use robocalls to get your money or your personal information so they can steal your identity. They might try to convince you the call is from the government, tech support, or your auto warranty company. Don’t buy it. Even if the name or number on the caller ID looks real, it could’ve been faked.
If you get an illegal robocall:
Hang up or delete the voicemail. Don’t press any number or call back.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (www.consumerfinance.gov) recently conducted a study of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) users. While many of the respondents did not encounter significant financial stress, BNPL users were much more likely to:
be highly indebted; have lower credit scores.
have high credit card utilization rates and revolve the balance on their credit cards.
have delinquencies with traditional credit products.
use high-interest financial services such as payday, pawn, and overdraft compared to non-BNPL borrowers.
BNPL borrowers generally have access to traditional forms of credit, using credit and retail cards, personal loans, student debt, and auto loans. The report estimates that a majority of BNPL borrowers would encounter annual credit card interest rates between 19 and 23 percent.
BNPL users tend to be younger. About 22 percent of consumers under age 35 borrowed using BNPL, while approximately 10 percent of those over the age of 65 used the service. Renters (22 percent) were more likely to be a BNPL user compared to homeowners (15 percent).
BNPL borrowing is viewed as less costly than other credit sources, such as credit cards or payday loans. However, consumers need to be aware of the potential concerns. While advertised as “no interest,” late or missed payments can trigger high fees, which can result in paying more than the original cost. BNPL will not improve your credit score, but it could damage it due to missed or late payments. BNPL can be a doorway to financial difficulties, especially if you use it for more than one purchase at a time.
For additional information on buy now, pay later, click here.
Teaching Suggestions
Have students talk to someone who has used BNPL to learn about the person’s experience with this credit source.
Have students create an audio file or podcast with a summary of the benefits and drawbacks of BNPL borrowing.
Discussion Questions
What features of BNPL services are most attractive to consumers?
What advice would you give a person who is considering using BNPL?
Melissa Hart
Focus on Personal Finance, 2024 Release 