Fraud is on the Rise

Newly-released Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data showed that consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, a 14% increase over reported fraud losses in 2022. The FTC received fraud reports from 2.6 million consumers last year, and the most commonly reported scam category was imposter scams, which saw significant increases in reports of both government and business impersonators.

Here are 5 ways you can protect yourself:

• Block unwanted calls and text messages. Take steps to minimize the amount of spam calls and texts you receive by “blocking” and reporting it as junk.
• Don’t give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn’t expect. Legitimate organizations won’t call, email or text to ask for personal information, like your social security number, online banking passwords, account numbers or credit card numbers.
• Resist the pressure to act immediately. Legitimate businesses will give you time to make a decision. Anyone who pressures you to pay or give them personal information is a scammer.
• Know how scammers tell you to pay. Never pay someone who insists you pay with a gift card or by using a money transfer service. And never deposit a check and send money back to someone.
• Stop and talk to someone you trust. Before you do anything else, tell someone you trust what happened (a friend, neighbor, family member) or call Dart Bank directly. Talking about it could help you realize it’s a scam.