Fraud scams are present throughout the year.  This holiday season, we are asking you to have a heighten awareness as we begin to see an increase in scams. Some of the popular scams include:

• Unreal relatives in distress where usually grandparent is asked to wire or send money to a grandchild in trouble
• Phony charities – check out the charity
• Check overpayment scam - someone buys something from you, usually online, makes payment with a fraudulent check made out for more than the agreed upon price, then requests you send them the amount of the overpayment
• Romance scam – scammers strike up a relationship with their targets to build their trust, sometimes talking or chatting several times a day. Then, they make up a story and ask for money.  Or they will obtain their target’s bank information and ask them to deposit a check then end up wiring out the funds to their (scammer’s) account.

What can you do?

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
• Don’t cash checks if you don’t know the source.
• Review your account often.
• Contact the authorities if you believe you are the victim of a scam.

Click button read more about other scams such as

• Online scams
• Package Delivery scams
• Public wi-fi
• Charity scams