The friendly banker in an unexpected phone call may not be who you think.

Criminals who attempt to commit wire fraud aren’t always elite hackers on the dark web trying to steal data through a computer breach. Many customers are victimized by “social engineering.” An example of social engineering is when criminals call customers pretending to be from Cadence Bank (or another organization) with an alarming message that the customer’s account has been compromised. For safety reasons, they may tell the customer they need to move their money into a different account or an escrow account to prevent loss.

Unfortunately, when the caller is a fraudster, it is too often the case that actions a customer may take trying to prevent the theft end up being the very action that makes the funds disappear. Scammers pressure you to wire money to them because it’s easy to take your money and disappear. Wiring money is like sending cash — you probably can’t get it back once it's gone. Never send money via wire or by other means, such as ACH, Zelle, PayPal, etc., to a stranger — no matter the reason they give.

It’s important to remember: Your bank will never call you to ask for personal information.

When you call your bank to ask a question or perform banking transactions, the bank employee on the other end of the phone may ask you for personal details to confirm your identity. This is because the employee needs to verify your identity before proceeding with any actions related to your accounts.

But the bank will never call you asking for this information. If someone calls you claiming to be from Cadence Bank, hang up and call Cadence Bank by using  the number on the back of your debit card or at the number listed on our official website.

Examples of impersonator attacks

Here are a few real-life examples of impersonator attacks:

• A number of Cadence Bank customers reported receiving a text that directed them to click on a link, which took them to a website that looked a lot like our real site. Once customers logged information into the fraudulent site, the scammer simultaneously entered the same information into our legitimate company site, providing them real-time access to the victim’s account. The scammers then issued unauthorized BillPay checks from customer accounts to try to pay for merchandise or other items.
• One customer recently got a call allegedly from “Microsoft” who transferred them to “Frank.” “Frank” was purportedly a “Security” Officer with Cadence Bank. The caller said two of the customer’s accounts were compromised. “Frank” advised the customer they had to be “secret with any transactions.” The fraudster advised the customer to move their money to an “escrow account” to keep the money “safe.” But it was all a scam attempt to steal the funds.
• A vendor was contacted by "John Williams," who gave a bogus employee number instructing the vendor to wire funds internationally to purchase equipment on behalf of Cadence Bank. There was no equipment. It was a scam.
• Another customer was contacted by a scammer claiming to be from Microsoft who transferred the customer to a second scammer claiming to be from the Cadence Bank “Security Division.” The two callers advised the customer to send two wires to external banks to “safeguard” the customer’s money while the two bogus representatives “went after the fraudsters.” But the callers WERE the fraudsters.

Cadence Bank will never call and ask you to transfer or wire money into outside accounts to “safeguard” your money or to “protect” you against fraud. If suspicious activity occurs, we have other ways of preventing loss, but any suggestion to wire money to “keep it safe” is likely a scam.

To learn more about how to deal with fraud and identity theft, visit the Cadence Fraud & Security Center.

Sources:
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/you-wire-money
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/scammers-use-fake-emergencies-steal-your-money
https://www.forbes.com/identity-theft/id-theft-and-types.html
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/fraud/

This article is provided as a free service to you and is for general informational purposes only. Cadence Bank makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the content in the article. The article is not intended to provide legal, accounting or tax advice and should not be relied upon for such purposes.