You Don’t Need to Move Your Money to “Protect It” – It’s a Scam!
Scammers are constantly looking for ways to access your hard-earned money, and they will often use scare tactics in order to achieve their goal.
For this specific scam, you will receive a communication from the scammer (could be a phone call, text, or email) stating that there are fraudulent transactions on your account, or evidence of criminal activity. They will claim to be contacting you from a well-known company or organization in order to gain your trust. They proceed to request remote access to your account (red flag!) so that they can help you transfer your money to “protect it.” They will put pressure on you to act quickly and to not tell anyone else what you are doing (another red flag!). Do not respond to such requests – your money is safe where it is.
Here are some tips to always have in mind to prevent falling victim to such scams:
- Never provide anyone remote access to your electronic devices (cellphones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, etc.).
- OTIS Federal Credit Union will never call you to verify your account information or advise you to withdraw funds.
- When in doubt, hang up! Contact us, or the organization itself, using information directly from their official website or a billing statement.
If you ever have questions about your account or how OTIS will communicate with you regarding your account, please reach out to us directly at (207) 897-0900.