Tips on protecting yourself from holiday scams

JACKSON, Tenn. — A Leaders Credit Union financial advisor is sharing tips on avoiding scams.

“I would say there’s no area that’s immune to fraud, and as it gets worse you’ll see more and more cases across email, across phone calls,” said Brandon Moore, Assistant Vice President of Branch Operations for Leaders Credit Union.

Moore says fraud is increasing during the holiday season.

“I feel like we’ve seen more in the last couple of years than a recent memory that I can think of. I would say that Christmas time is one of those times it ramps up. You see more fraud across the board. Even through COVID, that’s been a real problem,” Moore said.

He says he has seen many people reacting to suspicious phone calls.

“A couple things we’ve seen, where somebody comes in and they want to withdraw money from their account. They’ve gotten a phone call saying they owe somebody money, so they come and get that out. The phone call was unexpected,” Moore said.

Moore says there’s several ways you can protect yourself from fraud.

“One of the main things is to not give out personal information that identifies your account number, your social, email address, phone number,” Moore said.

He says hackers are persistent.

“It’s very aggressive. So they’re really trying to haggle you for your information in an aggressive manner to get that from you,” Moore said.

But he also says you should always be skeptical when receiving certain phone calls.

“Nine times out of 10, it’s too good to be true. So call Leaders. Call that place they’re pretending to be to relay the information to them. I think too, if you’re getting gift cards in a large amount, multiple gift cards sending those back to somebody, that’s a big red flag to look for,” Moore said.

Moore also shares another tip to avoid being scammed.

“If it’s not expected, if it’s an email or a phone call, the red flag goes up. Let me call this company directly by a number that I find online, and not what’s on the email or the form that’s given to you,” Moore said.

You can read more about avoiding scams and more from Leaders Credit Union. You can also report identity theft and learn more on the FTC’s website.

The FBI Memphis Field Office also has tips on avoiding scams. You can read more from them here.

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