Frauds targeting bank accounts are on the
upswing; here's what you can do
As if the negative repercussions of the global
financial crisis weren't enough, now savers have
something new to worry about: Scams targeting bank
accounts are on the rise.
One of the newest frauds involves recruiting
unsuspecting job-seekers to help launder money.
Those hired become "mules" -- people who
never know they're collaborating with fraudsters,
says Uri Rivner, who heads new anti-fraud technology
for RSA, a division of EMC Corp., in Hopkinton,
Mass.
The job postings seem legitimate; often the
company has a professional-looking corporate Web
site. The jobs may involve wiring money out of the
country through an international wire agent. Or
reshipping computers and other merchandise --
perhaps purchased originally with a stolen credit
card.
According to Rivner, when victims at one job Web
site clicked on the "careers" tab, they
were invited to apply for a job as a regional
manager in the U.S. responsible for shipping
merchandise. The offer by the company, promising a
great salary for little work, involved repackaging
and shipping merchandise, supposedly obtained from
an e-commerce Web site overseas.
More than 1,900 job-hungry Americans applied. Of
those, 33 were hired as actual "mules."
After a few weeks, some became victims of identity
theft because they had provided personal
information, including social security numbers, on
the fake job application. Those stolen identities
were used to commit check fraud and other financial
crimes.
Not So Friendly
Another hot scam, Rivner says: Fraudsters gain
access to the names of your friends on social
networking sites, like MySpace.com, and invite you
to click on a hyperlink to view a funny video.
Victims figure they know the sender, so they click
to watch. Then their screen freezes, and they get a
message telling them their video player needs
upgrading.
Click to upgrade, however, and you have just
accepted a Trojan horse, which follows your
movements online. Through it, scammers can capture
personal information, including credit card numbers,
social security numbers and even online check
photographs when you conduct business online.
"Malware and Trojans [are] distributed on a
massive scale," Rivner says.
Other illegal banking activities also are
increasing. Identity theft increased 22% to nearly
10 million victims in 2008, according to Javelin
Strategy & Research, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based
research firm. And the Federal Trade Commission
clocked 313,982 identity-theft complaints, up from
215,000 in 2003.
Meanwhile, more than 5 million U.S. consumers
lost money to "phishing" attacks in the
year ending September 2008, a 40% increase over the
number of victims a year earlier, according to
Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Gartner Inc.
Even bank robberies, burglaries and thefts are
rising, with 1,645 occurring in the last quarter of
2008, according to the FBI. The upward trend
continued into 2009.
The most disturbing trend is that many financial
frauds may be interconnected.
"Everything is linked," Rivner says.
"It could be the same people. It could be the
same resources, or the same mule accounts."
Also linked, he says: Online and offline fraud.
On average, 44% of a community bank's check fraud
losses could be attributed to organized crime rings,
the American Bankers Association reported.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a
federal agency established to safeguard the
financial system, reported in March that in some
cases of mortgage fraud, the scammers are connected
to other types of financial crimes, including check
fraud, money laundering, stock manipulation,
suspicious documents and forgery.
The FCEN says banks have become better at
tracking suspected mortgage fraud through mandated
recordkeeping. Plus, law enforcement agencies are
cooperating more to catch these crooks. But how can
the FCEN detect activities involving mules who never
even realize they're laundering money? Key factors,
according to Bill Grassano, an FCEN spokesman,
include whether there is interaction with a
financial institution, and what resources and leads
a law enforcement investigator has.
What You Can Do
To protect yourself, consider the following tips:
- Be skeptical of
messages urging you to upgrade programs or
download anything, even if you think you know
the person.
- Upgrade antivirus
software, personal firewalls and browsers. Let
your operating system accept automatic patches
with updates.
- Don't respond to
work-at-home ads or promises of money or returns
that sound too good to be true.
- Be wary of
providing personal information to people you
don't know.
- Check credit
reports annually for free, only at
AnnualCreditReport.com. See
the site.
- Before cashing
checks and money orders from people you don't
know, verify funds exist in the account at the
issuing financial institution.
- Avoid paying
upfront fees before an expected service is
performed.
- Carefully monitor
bank and investment statements for evidence of
fraud, and immediately report anything
suspicious.
- Don't click on
email hyperlinks.
- Change passwords
often.
- Avoid your bank
branch between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. and on
Fridays, when the FBI says most bank robberies
occur.
Spouses Gail Liberman and Alan Lavine are
syndicated columnists. Their latest book is
"Quick Steps to Financial Stability" (Que/Penguin).
You can contact them at www.moneycouple.com.
