Calhoun Police get reports of cyber theft

February 3, 2021–10:25 a.m.

CALHOUN POLICE DEPARTMENT

The Calhoun Police Department has recently received numerous fraud complaints involving cyber theft.

The scenario goes something like this;

The victim is called by someone claiming to be from their bank or some other financial institution.

The caller convinces the victim to give them access to their computer and instructs the victim on which keys to strike, which will give them total control of their computer or cellphone.

Upon gaining entry to your computer, the cybercriminal will have access to all of your personal identifying information, as well as all of your banking and other financial information.

Another less technical scam is when the victim is called and asked to confirm or verify certain detail of their account.

The victim is convinced that they are talking to a legitimate representative of that company and will often let their guard down.

At the end of the call, the criminal has obtained account numbers, dates of birth, and social security numbers.

In some incidents, just answering “Yes or No” is enough to give the cybercriminal access to your financial information.

Don’t be fooled if the telephone number that shows up on your caller I.D. is actually your bank’s telephone number.

Criminals can “Spoof” numbers to convince victims into thinking they are legitimate, when in fact the caller could be anywhere in the world.

If you become the victim of cyber theft, call your financial institution immediately and report the fraud, close accounts and cancel credit cards.

After talking to your bank and credit card company, file a police report for further investigation.

Obtain credit histories from the three major credit bureaus to determine if any unknown accounts have been added.

You can also request that a fraud alert be placed on your accounts that will be password protected. Contact numbers for the credit bureaus are listed below.

The Rule of Thumb is if you did not initiate the call, never give personal information to anyone, hang up the phone.

If you ever have doubts or concerns about calls you receive, contact the Calhoun Police Department and speak to an officer.

TransUnion – (800)-916-8800

Exqifax – (800)-685-1111

Experian – (888)-397-3742.

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