Fraud Prevention Awareness: ‘Tis the Season…for Scams!

The holiday season is a joyous time. Unfortunately, with increased gift-giving and charitable donations come prime opportunities for scammers to defraud you. Here are some common scams and how to protect yourself.

Gift Card Scams
It’s a popular time for purchasing gift cards—and scammers know it. They also know that gift cards don’t offer the purchase protection that debit and credit cards provide. Watch out for these gift card scams:

Gift card tampering. Take caution when purchasing gift cards in-store. Scammers can tamper with them by using readers that steal the serial number and PIN on the card’s magnetic strip. If you purchase a tampered card, it won’t have any value.

• • Inspect cards you purchase for tampering or damage.
  • Make sure the strip that covers the PIN and card number is not visible.
  • Keep the receipts for gift card purchases in case of a problem.
  • If you purchase a card that’s been tampered with, contact the gift card company, and ask for a refund.

Other gift card scams. Scammers may send emails, texts, or social media messages that:

• • Appear to be from the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, or another government agency, telling you that you owe money and must make the payment by gift card.
  • Pretend to be tech support with Microsoft, Apple, or other trusted companies, informing you that you have a virus and must pay by gift card to have your computer fixed.
  • Pose as family members in need, and ask you to send money immediately via gift card.
  • Tell you that you’ve won a prize and ask you to pay “processing fees” by gift card to claim it.
  • Come from someone you met on a dating site, who pretends to be interested in you and makes up a story that requires you to send a gift card.

Don’t believe any of it! No legitimate government agency, organization, or person would contact you this way and none expect gift cards as payment.

Delivery fraud
In this common scam, you receive an email or text about a “missed” or “pending” delivery from what appears to be a legitimate delivery service, such as UPS, FedEx, or the US Postal Service. A link in the message may lead to a page that asks you to provide personal or financial information. It could also contain malware that allows the scammer to take over your computer.

• Never click on an unsolicited link or open an attachment.
• If you’re unsure if a delivery-related message is real, go to the official website for the delivery service to verify it.
• Never provide personal or financial information.

Charity fraud
Scammers take advantage of our generosity and desire to help others at the holidays by posing as charities, often using names that sound like well-known organizations just to confuse you. They might call, email, or text you to ask for donations—and they often pressure you to donate right away and ask for cash, wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. Be extra-careful! Before donating any money, do some research to determine if the charity is legitimate, such as checking with the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, using the IRS’s Tax-Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool, or using a charity watchdog organization like Charity Navigator or Charity Watch.

bankHometown wants you to enjoy the peace and joy of the season of giving

If you have any questions about your accounts or transactions, call Customer Care at 888.307.5887. Always report cases of fraud to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.