Bank investigator

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• New Variation: Dial *72
• New Variation: Residence visits
• Variation: Catch a bank employee
• Variation: Unauthorized charges or compromised account
• Warning signs and how to protect yourself

A scammer calls you to ask for your help to catch a bank employee who has been stealing money or claims to be helping you resolve suspicious transactions on your bank account.

New Variation: Dial *72

Victims are directed to dial *72 followed by a phone number. *72 is used to forward any calls to the victim's phone number to an alternate phone number. If *72 is dialed by the victim, suspects will receive all incoming calls including legitimate financial institution phone calls that may potentially flag actual fraudulent charges by the suspects.

New Variation: Residence visits

Fraudsters go to the victim's residence in person to pick up their bank cards. Some recent reporting identified victims being directed to put their bank card and PIN number in an envelope and place on their front steps for pick-up by an "investigator". Fraudsters retrieve the card and proceed to complete unauthorized transactions.

Variation: Catch a bank employee

A scammer calls you to ask for your help to catch a bank employee who has been stealing money. To help, you need to go to your bank and make a cash withdrawal from your account. The scammer tells you not to let the bank teller know what you're doing because the teller might be involved. After the withdrawal, the scammer meets you in a nearby parking lot, where you turn over the cash.

Variation: Unauthorized charges or compromised account

In a variation of this scam, the scammer claims to be from the bank or a major credit card provider. They say there are unauthorized charges on your account or your account is compromised. In some cases, the scammer demands that you provide your credit card information. The scammer will tell you to send money for reimbursement fees or as "bait money" to help catch a bad "employee".

Warning signs and how to protect yourself

• Don't dial *72; it will forward all incoming phone calls to the fraudsters
• Fraudsters will often provide the first 4 numbers of your debit or credit card
  • Remember that most debit and credit card numbers with specific financial institutions begin with the same 4 numbers
• Calls from Bank Investigator fraudsters tend to happen early in the morning when a victim is still sleeping or not alert
• Financial institutions or online merchants will never request transferring funds to an external account for security reasons
• Financial institutions or police will never request you to turn over your bank card nor attend your residence to pick up your bank card
• Criminals use call-spoofing to mislead victims
  • Do not assume that phone numbers appearing on your call display are accurate
• Never provide remote access to your computer
• If you get an incoming call claiming to be from your financial institution, advise the caller that you will call them back
  • End the call and dial the number on the back of your card from a different phone if possible or wait 10 minutes before making the outgoing call

Date modified:

2022-10-18