DAYTON — One Text message or a phone call unfortunately is all it takes to send your personal and financial worlds into a tailspin.
Phone scams are more prevalent than ever and with changing technology at the ready, it might only get worse.
News Center 7′s Nick Foley looks at some ways scammers are trying to take your money and how it may change soon.
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Scammers are all around us, targeting the restaurants and hospitals that treat us and the banks we use and in many cases, they gather information and then come for us directly.
Jason Frantz, VP of Fraud Risk Management with Wright-Patt Credit Union said, “What it’s going to do is likely expose information on your phone.”
That is exactly what happened to some members of Wright-Patt Credit Union who were sent bogus text messages. At first glance, it appeared to be from the credit union.
A News Center 7 viewer sent Foley the fake texts encouraging her to click a link because of fraudulent charges to her account.
Frantz said they urge their members to always be vigilant and never click a link if they’re not sure.
“Are they prompting fear? Are they prompting emotion? They want a quick response. So we encourage our members, whether it’s our members, different financial institutions, utilities, whatever it is, be curious. Stop, think, look at the message, and then go to a website and call a legitimate number,” Frantz said.
John Price is the CEO of Subrosa Cyber said, “Phone and text scams over the last few years have become increasingly more sophisticated, and this is really being fueled by advancements in technology.”
Price said now more than ever, because of data breaches and social media, information is readily available to criminals, and they are continuously working to make their cons more sophisticated.
“The sheer volume of personal data is now available online, and what used to be simple, poorly worded scams have evolved into highly convincing and very targeted attacks. In some cases, scammers are leveraging automation, AI, generated messages, stolen personal data, all to really craft messages and conversations in some cases that appear very legitimate,” Price said.
Price said he predicts the amount of deception we encounter will only increase with the addition of artificial intelligence. A spam phone call we get now with a bogus caller ID could soon evolve into intricate business links that are legitimate or a Deep Fake personalized video or message with very intimate information, all designed to steal your identity and money.
“As we see more financial transactions move onto digital and mobile platforms, scammers are, you know, this is the crystal ball part, but scabbard, I think, are going to be focused on new exploits whether through AI-assisted hacking, QR code scams and more sophisticated impersonation-type of attacks,” Price said.
Like Frantz, Price said it comes down to always being very protective of your information and making sure more susceptible loved ones like older family members are on the lookout as well, changing passwords often and multi-factor authentication is now a must, and security software and filtering plans from your cell phone provided aren’t bad ideas either.
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