Bank of Blue Valley in Overland Park is encouraging customers to practice caution amid a recent spike in fraud scams.
In the past couple of weeks, a surge of customers have reported being on the end of a common type of “imposter scam” with scammers impersonating representatives from the bank’s fraud department.
Scammers have been texting customers
- According to bank officials, customers have received texts claiming to be on behalf of the bank’s fraud department and reporting potential fraud.
- Upon responding to the text, customers are prompted to reply with their credit card’s CVV number — the three-digit code on the back.
- A call from a spoofed 1-800 number also typically follows, asking for the customer’s full card information or account information.
Fraud scams are an ongoing
- Tracy Swaim with Bank of Blue Valley’s fraud department said these types of scams have ramped up in banks across the country over the past couple of years.
- Swaim said these scams usually involve a lot of “social engineering” — meaning manipulation and giving potential victims a false sense of authority or urgency while being scammed.
- The Federal Trade Commission reported imposter scams as the most frequent type of reported fraud in 2022.
- “We see it in waves, but it just seems that recently this is the worst that anyone — myself or my team — has seen with the volume of these and the amount of money they’re getting,” she said. “Technology has made it so easy that they can just send out hundreds of fake text messages at a time and see what sticks.”
Tips for customers
- While it is occasionally possible for customers to get back the money they lost from an imposter scam, Swaim said this is rare and much more likely if the customers act fast in contacting the bank.
- She noted that if the bank does need to text a customer about suspicious account activity, they would do so from a five or six-digit number, not a 1-800 number.
- She also said that if you get a sense of extreme urgency coming from someone claiming to be a bank employee, then that should be a red flag.
- “Any banker or any customer service representative is going to understand if you want to call them back,” she said. “Remove that sense of urgency. Reconsider what it is they’re telling you. Call that phone number on the back of your debit card instead of continuing to speak with somebody who called you blindly.”
Go deeper: Find more information about imposter scams here.
