OCALA, Fla. – Beware of your bank reaching out to you.
Crooks are impersonating bank employees and ripping off innocent victims.
Bill Silinski of Ocala told News 6 that it happened to him, and he said the crooks are convincing.
“I mean, it was like they read a script to a movie. They were so good,” Silinski said.
Silinski had recently closed two bank accounts because they were compromised with unauthorized transactions, “But the banks were responsible, so they refunded the money,” Silinski said.
Shortly after he noticed another fraudulent transaction and immediately contacted what he thought was his banks emergency number.
“Is this Wells Fargo security? Yes, yes. Well, I just had someone scam some money,” Silinski described the call.
The bank imposter went on to tell Silinski once again he needed to secure his accounts.
“He said, well, you know, we’re going to do everything to protect you,” Silinski said.
Through social engineering, the bank employee imposter convinced Silinski to withdraw his money.
He made three withdrawals: one for $10,000, another $4,000, then another for $3,000.
He withdrew $17,000 and was instructed to deposit it into a Bitcoin machine, where he unknowingly sent it right to the criminals."
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $12.8 billion to fraud last year, and imposter scams were the third highest category.
Roger Grimes is a cybersecurity expert who has written a dozen books on the topic.
“Everybody is susceptible to a social engineering scam,” Grimes said.
He said to never underestimate the power of social engineering, which is building trust and manipulating people to divulge personal information.
“I just think that if you get hit at the right moment in your life, with the right type of scam, that we’re all susceptible to something, even though we thought we were not.”
If someone calls you claiming to be from your bank, hang up, call the bank yourself or even visit a branch.
Banks will almost never ask you to withdraw your money.
And if anyone ever asks you to convert money to cryptocurrency, experts said there is a very good chance that it’s a scam.
“Louis, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker,” Silinski said.
Remember: don’t fall for the scheme, don’t get ripped off, but if you do, email me at LBolden@WKMG.com