FBI Alerts Public to Fraudsters Posing as Bank Employees

The FBI’s Internet Crime Compliant Center is cautioning the public that cybercriminals are impersonating financial institutions to steal money or information from individuals, businesses and organizations.

IC3 has received more than 5,100 reports of account takeover (ATO) fraud since January, and these reports included losses totaling over $262 million, IC3 said in a public service announcement released Tuesday (Nov. 25).

In this form of fraud, cybercriminals impersonate a financial institution’s support staff or website to trick victims into giving them information that enables the criminals to access and take over online financial institution, payroll or health savings accounts, according to the announcement.

In some cases, ATO fraud begins with social engineering. For example, criminals manipulate account owners into giving away their login credentials by impersonating a financial institution employee, customer support or technical support personnel; using text messages, calls or emails that falsely claim there has been fraudulent activity on the account and send victims to a phishing website to prevent additional transactions; or sending victims to a second cybercriminal who impersonates law enforcement.

In other cases, ATO fraud is committed with phishing websites. Cybercriminals may create a site that looks like a legitimate organization’s site and tricks owners into entering their login credentials. In some cases, they purchase search engine ads that imitate those of legitimate businesses and direct account owners to a fraudulent site.

Once the cybercriminals have the login information, they often lock the owner out of their own accounts and wire the funds to accounts controlled by criminals, according to the announcement.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Financial Scams and Consumer Trust” found that nearly four in 10 U.S. households have fallen victims to scams in the past five years. The report found that in 81% of these cases, criminals pretended to be trusted authorities, friendly strangers or known contacts.

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report, “How Scammers Tailor Financial Scams to Individual Consumer Vulnerabilities,” found that financial scams have evolved into sophisticated operations that mirror legitimate business practices. For example, scammers may use fake job offers or online deals to target consumers.