Have you ever been financially scammed?

I was, nearly. In my senior year of college, I got a phone call one night from a chipper-sounding gal that let me know I had won something (I don’t even remember now what the thing was!) and all I had to do was give my credit card information (I didn’t have a credit card, but did have a debit card. So, that’s much worse).

She made it sound like a sweet deal and was very persuasive. I obliged and handed out my numbers.

There was something in the pit of my stomach that didn’t feel right in the moment. As soon as I’d hung up the phone, I knew I’d made a huge mistake. I was at the local branch of my bank the first thing the next morning. As I stumbled through my explanation and through the tears of worry – and most of all embarrassment: how could I have fallen for it? – they assured me they had canceled my card and nothing illicit had happened.

I was lucky.

Lucky I listened to my gut and stopped it before anything could happen.
And lucky I was a college kid who didn’t have much money in her account anyway, had things turned out differently.

Not a grandmother who is scammed into giving away her life savings. Or a single parent in a desperate situation who is willing to put their hope into something – anything – that seems like a way out of a financial mess, only to have things get a lot worse.

And while banks and financial institutions have become more proactive about educating customers, improving their fraud policies and offering protection services and other means of fortification, there are still “bad actors” out there causing financial havoc.
As those “bad actors” have become more sophisticated over time, the ease of the internet has made all of us relax on our privacy and security. Who’s got a banking app on their phone? Is your password secure enough a thief couldn’t guess it? Are the answers to the security questions easy enough to figure out if someone were to do some research into your social media presence?

What are banking institutions doing to fight fraud? And how can customers – businesses and individuals – help shield their interests from falling into the hands of scammers?

We’re diving into the topic of fighting financial fraud in the September-October edition of BizVoice®. I’ll be speaking with Andy Shank, professional fraud investigator for Elements Financial, who spent 13 years as an investigator with the Indiana State Police and worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in that time.

We’ll look at what financial institutions are doing to guard their customers’ interests and ward against fraud, and Hoosier experts will offer tips on how you can protect your company and your personal financial interests.

See you in September!