Stay Safe From Scams this Holiday Season

As the holidays come closer, fraud cases continue to rise. Scammers will often use text message/email links posing to be legitimate sources, such as online vendors, your bank, utility company, and more, to steal your account information. As a precaution, ensure that you do not click on any links in emails/text messages or attachments that you cannot verify the validity of. If the messages come with demands or extreme urgency, it is most likely a bad actor.

Here are a few tips to ensure you can verify the phone call, text message, or email is legitimate

• Only provide sensitive information if you can verify the phone call. This can include your social security number, credit card number, or PIN.
• Do not provide any codes or two-factor authentication information over the phone. These codes do not need to be verified by a human. If you were not expecting the verification code, change your password right away!
• If you are asked to update payment information for an already completed purchase, hang up the phone and contact the vendor directly.
• Always proceed with caution; if something doesn’t feel right, it is probably a scam.

If you would like to learn more about how fraudsters try to steal your information, visit thefraudfighters.org, a free resource provided by American 1

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