SCAMMERS TAKE $100,000 FROM FOUR COUNTY RESIDENTS IN BANKING SCAM

Published on January 30, 2025

A large bank scam targeted Yavapai County residents over the past weekend, resulting in losses of at least $100,000. YCSO Criminal Investigations officials are asking everyone to spread the word about how this scam operates to hopefully prevent more people from falling victim to it.

Over the weekend of January 25-26, the victims received calls supposedly from "your bank security team" notifying them that their bank account had been compromised in some fashion, needed to be closed, and a new one opened. Essentially, the scammer convinced the victims to withdraw all money from the original account and transfer it to a temporary one (which, of course, was actually to the scammer himself) by Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) or a new banking card account by ATM in some cases. One victim even provided a large amount of cash to a man who came to their house to pick it up. The average loss in these cases was about $25,000 and the money is not likely to ever be recovered. Another potential victim was spared from the scam when she was stopped by an alert bank employee as she attempted to withdraw the large amount of cash to pay the fraudster, who was still on the phone with her.

YCSO wants everyone to know some simple things that will keep you from becoming a scam victim, no matter what type of call/text/e-mail/social media contact you receive:

1. DO NOT LET THE SCAMMER PLAY ON YOUR EMOTIONS. They will use fear and panic to get you to act immediately, without thinking about it and investigating the claim for yourself. It's best to just hang up the phone. And do not trust your caller ID because it can be "spoofed" to show a legitimate banking institution and phone number.

2. NEVER send or transfer money in any amount to people you don't know personally and have never met. Scammers usually attempt to get your payment by unconventional means like Bitcoin (which can be done at Coinstar machines or Crypto ATMs), gift cards, wire transfers, or apps like CashApp, Venmo, or Zelle.

3. GO IN PERSON TO YOUR LOCAL BANK BRANCH to investigate the status of your bank account. If you cannot do that, look up the real phone number of your bank, and call it yourself. DO NOT call any phone numbers given to you by the scammer...they only connect you to another criminal, not your bank.

4. REPORT IT to law enforcement where you live (local PD or YCSO Criminal Investigations). Even if you do not fall victim to the fraud, let us know about it so we can alert others to the scam to prevent them from becoming a victim. And please tell family, friends, neighbors and others about it too. We depend on word of mouth because we cannot personally reach everyone.

5. NEVER click on links or attachments in emails or text messages. You open yourself perhaps to malware installation on your device or, even worse, your personal and financial information ending up in the hands of the scammer.

6. BE WARY OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTACTS FROM PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW. And don't forget, scammers can now use Artificial Intelligence to produce phony pictures or video of people familiar to you, asking for money. Protect yourself, and your bank account, by being educated on the latest efforts by criminals to take your money.

YCSO has free public presentations and guest speakers on scams and frauds available to come to your local civic, community, church or other group. To schedule one, call (928) 771-3299.