Wire fraud, a term you may have heard recently, but might not understand what it is, especially if you aren’t in the banking industry. Wire fraud is a serious financial crime that utilizes electronic communication to deceive individuals or organizations for monetary gain.  As technology continues to evolve, so do the tactics fraudsters use, thus, making it essential for consumers to recognize the warnings signs.   

What constitutes wire fraud?
Wire fraud by definition is financial fraud involving the use of telecommunication or information technology to deceive someone into sending money. These schemes can be carried out through emails or phone calls, causing victims significant financial losses. Wire fraud has started to stand out among financial institutions and law officials due to victims being reached across vast distances and the number of financial losses that have occurred within the year. With the rise in digital transactions, we want consumers to take preventative measures to help combat wire fraud from becoming a common occurrence.  

Different types of Wire Fraud
Wire fraud schemes are diverse and can be crafted to deceive individuals or businesses into transferring money. The most common types include:

• Phishing Scams: These involve fraudsters sending fake emails or messages that appear to be from legitimate entities.
•  Business Email Compromise: This sophisticated scam targets businesses by gaining access to an employee’s email account and using it to request fraudulent wire transfers, often impersonating an executive or vendor.
• Advance-fee Scams: These often involve an elaborate story and the promise of money in exchange for a smaller upfront fee.
• Romance Scams: Scammers will build emotional connections with individuals online and manipulate them into wiring funds because they are either in danger or need some financial assistance.

Wire fraud can be significantly harder to detect compared to credit card fraud. When credit card fraud occurs, it typically is unauthorized use of card information. When funds are wired out, it requires the signature of an account holder which authorizes funds to be sent and harder to prove fraudulent.

Protecting Yourself Against Wire Fraud
Protecting your account against scammers is always the first step to helping prevent wire fraud. Here are some useful tips to follow to safeguard your account:

1. Always confirm the identity of individuals and organizations requesting money.
2. If you own a business, start putting more protocols into place for wire approval.
3. Be alert anytime you receive an email that has a sense of urgency.
4. Look for communications that have red flags such as grammatical errors, misspellings or unexpected links.
5. Remember, if something feels off, it probably is. Reach out to your financial institution to report any fraud that occurs.

At First Savings Bank, we care about the customers and communities we serve and want to ensure they have updated financial security information that can help prevent them from becoming victims of wire fraud. This past year, there have been several individuals that have reported receiving a fraudulent wire request, so as always, be hypervigilant when you are wiring money out for anything. If you have questions, please call us before you send them. 1-833-372-4968