Clark County prosecutor warns of fraudulent wire-transfer scams

Consumers around the country have lost billions of dollars as the result of sophisticated scams that allowed criminals to wire funds directly from their victims’ bank accounts

Arkansas 9-East Prosecutor Dan Turner, representing Clark County, encourages local citizens to be cautious and vigilant anytime they are contacted by a stranger about any personal financial matters.

Many of these scams target customers of large, national banks. The fraudsters sometimes employ “spoofed” telephone numbers to make it appear that their call is coming from the customer’s bank. The callers then ask the victim to confirm their bank account number and claim that they are calling because of some sort of unauthorized activity or suspicious charge on the customer’s bank account. Then, the criminals may ask for personal information or surreptitiously obtain authorization from the victims which allow them to initiate wire transfers from the victims’ bank accounts. 

To avoid becoming a victim of these scams, Turner advises that you should be wary of answering phone calls or text messages from numbers you do not recognize and should not send money or provide any information to anyone that you do not trust. Even if the phone number appears to be associated with one of your banks, you should contact your bank directly to confirm. 

Since wire transfers are very difficult to reverse, if someone purporting to represent a bank contacts you about a wire transfer, you should make every effort to contact your own bank to determine if a wire transfer request is pending. It is also important to regularly review your financial accounts.

“You should always be vigilant if you receive a telephone call, text message or email from an unexpected source, even if the phone number appears to be your own bank,” said Turner. “You should never give out your personal information, including your Social Security number, over the phone or to individuals you do not know.”

You should never give control of your computer or any electronic device to anyone who contacts you. Some scammers use trickery to try to lock up or disable computer screens. If this occurs, you should not provide passwords or sensitive information to someone who contacts you over the phone or via email. Instead, you should shut down and/or unplug your computer. If you believe that you have legitimate computer problems, you should consult a local IT service.  

According to Turner, if you believe you have been a victim of an online payment or wire transfer scam, you should report it to your bank immediately and you should also report the scam to local law enforcement and to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.