Did you know that Americans lost $5.8 billion to phishing scams and other fraud in 2021? That’s 70% more than in 2020. Every day, thousands of people in the United States fall for fraudulent emails, texts, and calls from scammers pretending to be a bank. Victims of phishing attacks can lose hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
To help combat the toll that phishing is taking on consumers, Wakefield Co-operative Bank has joined the American Bankers Association (ABA) and thousands of banks across the country to promote an industry-wide consumer awareness campaign called #BanksNeverAskThat. Using humorous and engaging videos, social media posts and other material, the #BanksNeverAskThat campaign seeks to turn the table on fraudsters by empowering consumers to spot bogus bank phishing scams.
One of the campaign’s animated GIFs asks social media users personal questions that banks would never ask. Here’s a common phishing question a real bank would never ask: We’ve spotted some unusual activity on your account, can you please verify your username and password?
For more information about phishing scams and how to stop fraudsters in their tracks, visit www.BanksNeverAskThat.com.
