ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Fraud and scams are costing Floridians big bucks. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were more than 358,000 reports in Florida this year. The state ranks as one of the worst in the country.
Imposter scams are one of the biggest trends right now. That’s where someone poses as a bank or government representative, someone from a popular shopping service or even a troubled relative.
Advocates at Consumer Reports are pushing for changes to close what they say is a bank wire fraud loophole. They want to prevent criminals from duping you into giving away your money either through a wire transfer or a peer-to-peer transaction with apps like Cash App, Venmo and Zelle.
The spam isn’t just in your inbox anymore. This type of phishing comes through text and phone calls, sometimes even using voice cloning from artificial intelligence.
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Consumer Reports recently found a situation where two hackers were working in tandem to take someone’s money.
“One person is calling the consumer and getting their bank login information, the other scammer’s calling the bank and arranging for the wire transfer with that information,” Chuck Bell of Consumer Reports told 10 Investigates. “So these two people are sitting side by side, kind of working this out, and then tricking the person. And again, the problem. With induced fraud is that if the consumer actually authorizes the payment, even though they were tricked into doing it, the bank is not likely to reimburse you.”
He adds in places like the United Kingdom, the banks are responsible for induced fraud, so there’s a stronger interest in preventing these types of situations.
Bell says if someone is calling from a bank, just hang up and go down to the branch office and talk to someone in person.
Consumer Reports wants the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate wire transfers and put a one or two-day hold on wire transfers, so it will give you time to act if you believe you’ve been defrauded. You can check out the petition here.
If you think you made a mistake, time is of the essence. You need to report it to your bank, and the FBI has just 72 hours after the transfer to initiate a financial fraud kill chain to get your money back. Otherwise, it’s likely gone forever.