Watch your wallet: How to check for scams, when to use a credit card and more

In early February, a man walked into a Mashpee Citizens Bank with his wife, fervently holding his phone in the air and tensely asking to withdraw $50,000 from his account, said Citizens Bank banker Fenton Soliz.

Soliz discovered the couple was being targeted in a sophisticated financial scam, and the scammer was still on the line.

The con man convinced the couple that their PayPal account was compromised. To keep their money safe, the caller told them he had locked their funds in a digital account. He then pretended to transfer their call to the Citizens Bank fraud department.

When the purported fraud department representative picked up the line, the couple was instructed to remove $50,000 in cash from their account.

When Soliz picked up the cellphone to speak to the caller, the line went dead.

"We see fraud all day long but not quite as sophisticated as this scam was," said Soliz. "The way they lullabied this couple into the transaction was very clever."

Citizens retail bankers spend about 25% of each workday dealing with fraud, Soliz said

Scammers target seniors, but also people of all ages, and base swindles on fear and emotional triggers, he said.

There are ways to prevent scams, said Darlene Skog, director of the Money Management Program for Elder Services for the Cape and Islands. The program, she said, trains volunteer bill payers to help consumers aged 60 or older review bank statements, pay monthly bills and balance checkbooks.

The program was designed to help area seniors pay their bills so they can maintain their independence, but volunteers have also begun helping with scam prevention.

Did Soliz help secure the $50,000 account hack?

Once the couple felt safe, Soliz called the Mashpee Police Department, who came to the bank and filed a report. Soliz also filed a report with Citizens' official fraud department and set up the couple with new financial accounts and debit cards.

If the couple had wired the money to another account, it would've been incredibly hard or impossible to reverse the transaction, said Soliz. If they had sent the cash in the mail, "it would've been gone," he said.

Tips and tricks to avoid scams

A bank teller will never call a customer on the phone to tell them that their bank account has been compromised, said Soliz. An authentic bank fraud department will begin with an email alert, he said.

"If a customer does receive a call from their bank, customers should hang up and either call the bank back themselves or go to the nearest branch to confirm their account is secure," said Soliz.

"You should really be checking your bank accounts daily — or at the least weekly to make sure everything looks good," he said.

Use contactless payment options when possible

Soliz has been advising customers to use the tap feature on their debit card instead of inserting the card into card readers. Merchants like gas stations are notorious for being compromised by card skimmers, which steal account information from debit cards once they are inserted, he said.

Similar to a chip card, contactless payment transactions use a one-time security code that's unique to that transaction, according to the Citizens website. This protects payment information from being used for future unauthorized purchases.

Use credit cards in high traffic retail areas

If it's possible, use credit cards at gas stations or at high traffic retail areas. That way, said Soliz, "criminals don’t have access to your pot of gold."

Skog agreed and said if credit is stolen, it can usually be disputed.

"About two years ago, we helped a gentleman recover $5,000 from someone who talked him into Christmas gifts deals on his Discover card," said Skog.

How can the Money Management program help?

A great way for people to keep their financial accounts secure is by enrolling in the program, said Skog.

Skog said program volunteers recently helped a consumer cancel a Netflix account she didn't know she was paying for.

"The volunteer spotted it and helped the consumer obtain a credit and cancel the charge," said Skog.

Program volunteers also help clients push back against high pressure phone sale calls for appliance and medical equipment warranties. One woman who had recently recovered from a stroke was talked into purchasing a warranty over the phone that cost $200 per month.

"The volunteer helped cancel the warranty and get a full refund," said Skog.

The number of scams throughout the Cape is skyrocketing, says Skog

Romance scams and grandchild-in-jail scams are "versions of the same thing," said Skog, and use emotion to prey on vulnerable people. Several men involved in the program have lost thousands of dollars to people who are pretending to be in a relationship with them.

In other cases, scam callers will use personal information they find online, and pretend to be a grandchild or a loved one of a senior in the community who needs to be bailed out from a local jail. They will instruct the victim to send the bail in cash to an address which they associate with a police department or house of correction.

"The sad thing is that people feel embarrassed when they realized they’ve been taken," she said. "That stops them from seeking help from the police."

Another scam Skog said to look out for is people pretending to be contractors or some kind of handyman, said Skog.

"Someone had a person knocking on their door telling them their house was on fire and they needed to check their chimney," said Skog. "Our volunteers can help deal with those situations when they are present with the client."

Scams have worsened since the pandemic

There was a lull in scams during the pandemic, and now things have worsened, said Skog.

While the elderly are highly vulnerable, "nobody is immune from a scam," said Skog.

"If it sounds too good to be true — it’s a scam," she said. "These scammers are gifted at what they do."

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: How to avoid money scams, fraud, according to Cape Cod experts