A publication of the Oklahoma Bankers Association
March 22, 2006
P.O. Box 18246, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-0246 · (405) 424-5252 · www.oba.com

Watch for these new scams!

Here's something that came to our attention today, from two different sources. It's an article by Andrea Coombes, and it's taken from today's edition of Market Watch. It warns against the latest fraud scam involving the Internal Revenue Service.

On the e-mail the victim receives, the IRS logo looks real and the message appears to have been sent from the right place. There's also a "copyright 2006 IRS" tag at the end of the message which adds to the appearance of authenticity.

But it's a scam.

Ms. Coombes' article notes that "scammers . . . are swamping consumers' e-mail inboxes with messages notifying them of an audit or offering access to a refund. The fraudsters' aim is to collect your Social Security number, credit card account number, and bank information."

According to the article, consumer complaints about the e-mail scams are pouring in at the rate of about 100 a day on average, according to Bonnie Heald, a spokeswoman at the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, which oversees IRS-related fraud, waste and abuse. So far, TIGTA has found 12 Web sites operated in 18 countries perpetrating this or similar types of IRS-related fraud.

According to Ms. Coombes' article, when you click on the link posted in the e-mail, the resulting location looks eerily similar to the official IRS.gov Web page. Scammers copied the official IRS logo, and even the type font matches the IRS site.

And, if you click on the "Home" button, it takes you to the official IRS site, at www.IRS.gov.

IRS won't e-mail you

Ms. Coombs' excellent article notes that the IRS generally does not send e-mail messages to taxpayers.

"We do not communicate with taxpayers via e-mail. We may send you a letter, we may call you, but we do not send out e-mail," an IRS spokesperson was quoted as saying. She also said the bulk of the scams have been through e-mail, though sometimes fraudsters will mail a regular letter, or even call taxpayers.

"If taxpayers get any communication that purports to be from the IRS and if they're not sure that it's a legitimate correspondence and it's asking for financial information, they need to call us and check it out. Mathis said. "Some of these e-mail scams that I saw, they would not only ask for your bank account number, they would ask for your password to your bank account – something we would never ask for." She noted, however, that "we do communicate with taxpayers probably more frequently than people think. It's not just through audits."

To find out whether a communication you received from the IRS is legitimate, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. Ask them to confirm that the IRS is trying to contact you.

The other scam that's going around involves a caller who says the victim didn't show up for jury duty and there's going to be the devil to pay. The request is for the usual information, and – again – it's just a scam.

Let your customers know about these fraudsters and how they're hitting your customer base across Oklahoma. You'll be a real hero to your customers if you simply make them aware of these crooks.

If for some reason you haven't yet had Elaine Dodd come to your bank and talk to your employees and put on a program for your customers, call us a the OBA so we can get one scheduled. So far there's no charge for this great service, and we've encouraged bankers of all sizes all across the state to take advantage of this tremendous membership benefit.

For questions, call Roger Beverage at the OBA – (405) 424-5252.

Widespread scam spreading throughout state

Oklahoma has seen scams in years past where people have received calls from individuals asking for their banking information, but never in such large numbers in such a short amount of time.

The Oklahoma Bankers Association is receiving reports across the state about scams that seem to be initiated from a single source, with potentially a large number of callers and phone lines at their disposal. Bank customers (often senior citizens) are receiving calls that state the caller is with their bank (without actually naming the bank). The caller says something has created an error on their account and they need to verify information so that it can be corrected.

Other reports vary slightly, with the callers saying they are from the National Bureau of Verification. Customers are then asked to get their bank statement to verify information pertaining to a bank error. In this second version the callers do not claim to be from the bank, and in the first they are non-specific as to the name of the bank – both of which indicate they do not have actual banking information on any of the customers prior to the call.

Reports seem to indicate that there are at least two male callers (one male identifying himself as Peter Daily) and at least two female. The male callers are known to become more aggressive and even belligerent. In the last two days, the OBA has received reports and calls from Shawnee, Okmulgee, Walters, Skiatook, Bristow, Oklahoma City, Duncan and Stonewall. It is unknown how they are targeting senior citizens but this does seem to be the case.

This may only be a function of the larger number of seniors who could potentially be home during the daytime hours when they are placing the calls. In a few isolated cases, customers have stated that the callers knew where they banked, had routing numbers and had the number of their last check. This has not been confirmed but could be accomplished by slick scammers actually leading customers into giving information without realizing they were the source.

Customers need to be warned not to ever give their bank account information or any other personal information out through unsolicited phone calls or e-mails. Any customers receiving such calls should hang up and call the bank back to verify that they are talking with their true bank representative. If anyone has received such a call and thinks they may have inadvertently shared their account information, they should contact their bank immediately and have their account closed and reopen another.

The OBA was able to get the information into the Oklahoman business section in today's paper thanks to the late evening efforts of reporter Don Mecoy and similar information should appear in the Lawton Constitution, thanks to Lawton Police Department and Megan on the Constitution staff.