PASCO COUNTY - Can You Spot An Email or Text Scam?

A financial education message provided by your neighbors at San Antonio Citizens Federal Credit Union. Scammers are dishonest people who use their deceptive techniques to steal your money and information. While some scammers overtly ask you to send money, others are much sneakier and use email, text messages, and even social media direct messaging, to trick you into providing your personal information, such as passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. These are called phishing scams (pronounced “fishing”). Scammers want to access your data to attempt to gain control of your email, banking, or other accounts.

Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks every day — and they’re often successful. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reports that people lost more than $50 billion to phishing scams since the year 2020. In 2024 alone, Americans lost more than $16 billion to scammers. Phishing emails, texts, and social media messages may look convincingly like they’re from a person or company you know or trust and regularly interact with:

• Your bank, credit union, or a credit card company
  • A social networking site
  • An online payment website or app
  • An online store
  • A police or sheriff’s office
  • Your state toll authority
  • A shipping vendor like Fed-Ex, UPS, or DHL

Even an unexpected direct message that appears to be from a friend’s social media can contain malicious links. Phishing messages often tell a story that requires urgent action or response to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment before you take time to think through what is really happening.

The phishing message may:
• Say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts on your account
• Ask you to login in or reset your password
• Claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information
• Say you must confirm some personal information
• Want you to click on a link to make a payment
• Say you’re eligible to register for a government refund
• Offer a coupon for free stuff
• Notify you of a traffic ticket
• Claim they are attempting to collect unpaid tolls
• Claim to contain shipment tracking for Fed-Ex, UPS, or DHL

WHAT TO DO: If you get an email, text, or social media inbox message that asks you to click on a link or open an attachment, DON’T CLICK THAT LINK! In general, the best practice is to never click a link in an email or other message, even if the message appears to be from someone you know. If you aren’t expecting a communication, you should suspect the message. Attachments and links can install harmful malware. Even PDF and JPG image files can have malicious viruses embedded within their code. And, unless you are highly skilled at cyber coding yourself, there is no way for you to know what is hidden in a file’s code or a web link’s hidden URL path.

FIRST, ASK YOURSELF: Do I have an account or do business with the company that contacted me? Do I personally know and regularly communicate with the person who messaged me? If the answer is “No,” then the message is likely a phishing scam. The best approach is to ignore and delete the message. If the answer is “Yes,” then you should still follow the important rule of DON’T CLICK THAT LINK. Instead, you should: PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Use the contact information you have on file to contact the company, or log into your account. Do not use the info in the communication.

By taking precautions, you can check the status of your account to determine if the call to action is legitimate. If so, the alert in question will also appear in your online account. Even if a message is from an individual you know, don’t click on a file attachment or link if you weren’t expecting it. Instead, contact that person directly using a different contact means and ask your friend if they sent you the message. If you aren’t expecting it, your friend’s account may have been hacked.

Remember, scammers are dishonest people using any means available to defraud you. Scammers often use email, text messages, online direct messages, and even phone calls to steal information and money from unsuspecting people every day. A healthy skepticism about any communications you weren’t expecting can save you from the frustration and heartache of becoming the victim of a financial scam.

To protect yourself, and your loved ones, educate yourself about financial fraud red flags. Familiarize yourself with the tips and information the federal government and your local financial institutions, like San Antonio Citizens Federal Credit Union, provide to educate you about financial scams and fraud. To learn more, visit these websites, but please, DON’T CLICK ANY LINKS you aren’t expecting.

www.SACFCU.org/fraud - fraud prevention blog and links of interest
www.Consumer.gov – the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer education website
www.ConsumerFinance.gov – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau website
www.ic3.gov – the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center website. ♥