Do You Use An ATM?

Of course you do.

Don McGrann, a retired Ridgefield police officer and now Fairfield County Bank’s Director of Security, advised Westport Sunrise Rotary on Friday morning about some of the more common bank scams and how to avoid them.

Debit cards have become targets of organized gangs of Russians, Bulgarians and Romanians. Their objective is to steal card numbers and PINs, replicate the cards of the unsuspecting, then strip their bank accounts.

We are typically pretty casual as we stick our card into the machine, enter our PIN and wait for our money.

McGrann counseled that we become attentive. He said “if you see a brochure display set up right near the ATM, that’s one possible sign that there may be a scammer’s camera.” Or scammers may have installed a tiny overhead camera - not a tough task with today’s miniaturization and the gangs’ adeptness.

They also add a magnetic stripe reader to the ATM itself. The reader intercepts your card when you insert it to record your card number, while the camera takes digital snapshots of the keystrokes as you enter your PIN.

The gang later syncs the timestamps and matches the numbers. They now have you and your money.

McGrann recommended that when you enter your PIN “hold your off hand over the keyboard” to prevent the camera from recording your input.

Another tip was to never let your debit card out of your sight - bring it to the cash register in a restaurant.

McGrann said debit card losses are the card holder's losses, while credit card losses are the issuer’s. He added that the bigger banks, which lost $22 million to debit card schemes last year, call this “a cost of doing business,” and pass it off to their insurers. Fairfield County Bank treats it as a personal loss and reimburses its customers.

Credit cards are not immune from scams. His first recommendation was “do not sign on the back of the card,” instead, write ‘picture ID required.’”

McGrann offered a more basic recommendation - periodically photocopy every important item in your wallet or handbag - front and back - along with the 800 numbers you need to call if the item is lost or stolen, and leave the copy in a safe place in your home.

“If you are compromised,” he said, “immediately call all three credit reporting companies - Experian, TransUnion and Equifax to report the theft.” Equally important, alert the Social Security Administration lest your account become the basis of multiple other scams.

Another tip is to use a “black gel ink pen to write checks.” He said gangs use acetone to remove amounts from checks without altering the check itself, but acetone cannot erase gel ink.

McGrann described a couple of larger, more intricate and more targeted scams. Among the most common is “the grandparent scam.”

An “Academy award winning” actor calls a senior citizen, tells him or her a favorite grandchild has been jailed in Canada and asks that they “quickly wire” a sum on the order of $4,500 as a bond to free them.

If the victim makes the first transfer the scammer returns, empathetically drawing in the unsuspecting senior, and asks for additional money - again “wire quickly” - to pay legal fees or some other made up need.

This can continue as long as the victim responds. McGrann said the bank sees this two or three times each week. He mentioned a victim, a retired teacher who confessed at one of his talks that he was taken for $80,000.

If the senior goes to an untrained teller he will withdraw the money and wire it as he was instructed. McGrann said he has trained his bank’s tellers to recognize unusual patterns and report them to a branch officer to avoid the potential hardship.

He mentioned another, one in which scammers prey on people who enter numerous sweepstakes. This is a variant of the first, but here the target is told he or she has a sweepstakes winning but must wire a “processing fee” to collect the prize.

Over 50 percent of Americans enter sweepstakes, and businesses that run sweepstakes use them to gather large mailing lists. They sell their names in buyer specified combinations. Most buyers are legitimate, but some purchase what McGrann called “suckers lists” solely to set up their schemes.

His advice was “use a ton of discretion when you enter because your information will be shared with a lot of people.”

Both of these target “mostly upper middle class people,” so lower Fairfield County residents could become victims if they are not diligent.

He concluded by saying about the last two, “this will happen to someone you know.”

Be aware. Don’t let it be you.

Photo by Hal Levy