Don't get scammed, stay informed

According to the Federal Trade Commission, between January 2021 – June 2023, Social Media scams accounted for $2.7 billion dollars in losses to their reported victims.¹

With the increasing number of scams targeting banking customers, we’d like to take this opportunity to raise your awareness of some of these scams and red flags associated with them.

• Employment scams: Job listings offering opportunities to work remotely, to be a mystery shopper, or other “too good to be true” sounding jobs.
• Recruitment scams: Bad actors are recruiting unsuspecting individuals, often with promising money, receiving a job, or some other personal benefit.
• Social media scams: Cyber criminals often use social media platforms to lure unsuspecting individuals into sharing personal information or scam them out of money.
• Romance scams: The bad actor takes advantage of the victim after entering their life as a romantic interest in order to earn their trust and eventually take control of the victim’s finances or con them out of money.
• Investment scams: Fraudulent schemes designed to steal money from investors. Bad actors use a variety of methods to entice people to invest, including promising high returns with little to no risk, using pressure tactics to get people to act quickly, or impersonating legitimate investment professionals.
• Phishing: Emails, text, or calls pretending to be from your bank or another business requesting personal information (date of birth, account numbers, social security numbers, passwords, etc). Remember, Texas Capital will never ask for this information through unsolicited channels.
• Fake websites or apps: Websites or apps that mimic banks or other businesses to steal your login credentials. Always double-check the URL before entering any sensitive information.
• Fake Fraud alerts: Receiving SMS text alerts supposedly from your financial institution.
• Grant Fund scams: Advertisement about free or reduced interest government grants. You are asked to provide personal identifying information to qualify for these “grants”. Once you “qualify” they claim they will deposit the funds directly into your bank account but require a one-time processing fee.

Here are some tips to protect yourself:

• Never share personal information. Do not share your account number, PIN, passwords, or personal identifying information to anyone over the phone, email or text.
• Be mindful about the information you share on social media.
• Beware of unsolicited contact. If you receive a suspicious call, email or text from your bank, don’t click on any links or reply. Contact your bank directly through a verified phone number or website to confirm its legitimacy.
• Use strong passwords and update them regularly.
• Install anti-virus and anti-malware software on personal computers and devices.
• Monitor your credit.
• Use multi-factor authentication.

If you think you may be a victim of a scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission, your financial institution, and your local police.