Fraud Prevention Tips

The lottery scam begins with an email notification that you have won a sum of money in some type of international lottery (Jamaican Lottery, Spanish Lottery, etc).  The recipient is instructed that in order to claim their winnings they must first contact the claims agent via the provided email address, generally a free based email such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail.

The target of the scam will be asked to verify your personal identity with copies of your driver's license or a passport along with a claim form that contains all of your personal details.  If you return this claim form you have Now provided the fraudster enough information to duplicate your identity. 

The agent will also instruct you that in order to be able to claim the funds you are required to wire funds via Western Union to pay the processing fees, insurance, and taxes.  Once the wire is sent out the victim of the scam is Now at a loss for the wired funds along with being put in jeopardy of identity theft.  The fraudsters then use your personal information to continue to scam other people.  

Nigerian scams are to persuade the victim into thinking that they have been chosen to participate in highly confidential business.  Fraudsters claiming to be Nigerian officials, business people, or the widow of former government officials will offer to transfer large sums of money into your bank account in exchange for a small fee.  Generally official documents are sent requesting the victim to provide blank letterhead with your banking information along with a small sum of money to transfer the costs and attorney fees. 

Once confidence is established there is an emergency that occurs requiring you to send more funds and delaying the transfer into your account.  The large sum of promised money is never transferred to your account and the fraudster disappears with your funds and account information.  This scam is generally over a length of time.  Though it is called the Nigerian Scam it transacts from countries all over the world.

The victim receives a letter inviting them to become a paid mystery shopper.  The letter is sent on very legitimate looking letterhead form a U.S. company; however the phone numbers generally originate out of Canada.  A check is enclosed with instructions to deposit the check into your bank account with an assignment.  You are instructed to wire a certain amount of funds via Western Union, take the wire fees, keep an amount as your pay, and take funds to perform the mystery shop. 

Sounds like an easy way to make money?  The check you have deposited is not good and you will receive notification from the bank several days after this occurs.  Meanwhile you are Now out the bounced check, any fees that you have paid, and have already wired funds to the fraudster.

Can you deposit a check into your bank account if the check was received from a sale made on eBay or an unexpected check that arrived in the mail from an unknown person?  The answer is no because the check could very easily be a fraudulent check.  Often you actually may be considered to be assisting the fraudsters in their counterfeit crime.

If you receive a check in the mail that you are not expecting to receive, DO NOT CASH IT.  You should contact the issuing bank to verify the validity of the account and check.

You always have to remember if something sounds too good to be true it generally is. 

We have had reports of customers receiving text alerts asking you to call and reactivate your debit card. This text is not from National Bank of Coxsackie, it’s a scam. NBC will never ask for your account number via text message or email. If you have any questions please contact us at 518-731-6161.

We have been informed that some customers have received automated phone calls telling them that their debit card has been suspended and are being asked to provide their card information (card number, expiration, PIN) to reactivate it. NBC will never contact customers and request this type of information. If you are contacted, DO NOT give out any card information and please contact Operations at (518)731-6161 as soon as possible.

At NBC, we are committed to protecting your financial interests with secure technology and educate you with “best practices” for staying secure on the Internet. As a NBC Internet Banking customer, we want to make you aware of the increasing use of "phishing" and "spoofing" to obtain sensitive personal information.

 "Phishing" is a type of fraud where an e-mail asks you, often with a sense of urgency, to click a link to update or confirm your sensitive personal information, such as your account numbers, card numbers, social security/tax identification numbers, passwords, or PINs. The link goes to a fake or "spoof" website designed to look like a legitimate company.

 For your protection, we have removed all links to log in to NBC Internet Banking from our e-mails. NBC e-mails will not ask you to update or confirm your sensitive information by clicking a link or replying.

 To protect yourself from going to a spoofed website, type www.nbcoxsackie.com into your browser when you login to Internet Banking, instead of clicking a link in an e-mail. We encourage you to monitor your accounts by logging in to Internet Banking on a regular basis – this is a very effective way to detect fraud.

When money’s tight, a work-at-home opportunity might sound like just the thing to make ends meet. Some even promise a refund if you don’t succeed.But the reality is many of these jobs are scams. You end up paying for starter kits or certifications that are useless, find your credit card is charged without your permission, or get caught up in a fake check scam.

Other work-at-home offers just don’t deliver on their promises. The ads don’t tell you that you may have to work a lot of hours without pay, or don’t disclose all the costs up-front. You might spend money based on promises you’ll quickly earn it back — but you don’t. People tricked by work-at-home ads have lost thousands of dollars, not to mention their time and energy.

Promises of a big income working from home, especially when the “opportunity” involves an up-front fee or giving your credit card information, should make you very suspicious. It doesn’t matter if the ad shows up in a trusted newspaper or website, or if the people you talk to on the phone sound legitimate. It still could be a scam.

Here are some questions to ask:

• What tasks will I have to perform? Are any other steps involved?
• Will I be paid a salary, or will I be paid on commission?
• What is the basis for your claims about my likely earnings? Do you survey everyone who purchased the program? What documents can you show me to prove your claims are true before I give you any money? Note: If a seller makes a claim about how much money a person can earn, the seller also has to give you an earnings claim statement with more specifics.
• Who will pay me?
• When will I get my first paycheck?
• What is the total cost of this work-at-home program, including supplies, equipment, and membership fees? What will I get for my money?

The answers to these questions may help you determine whether a work-at-home program is legitimate, and if so, whether it’s a good fit for you. It’s a good idea to research other people’s experience. Try entering the company or promoter’s name with the words “complaint,” “reviews,” or “scam” into a search engine. Read what others have to say. After all, it’s your money on the line.

A newer type of fraud involves using checks and mobile remote deposit capture to commit check fraud. The scammer will win the confidence of the victim and ask for online banking access credentials. The criminal then sets up mobile banking deposit for the account and deposit's fraudulent checks. The victim will then send money to the criminal via online banking transfer, wire transfer, third-party money transfer or debit card.  The check is later returned to the bank as fraudulent.