Fraudsters figured it out.  If you can’t beat em, join em.  Which is exactly what they are doing now, and scamming consumers for tens of millions of dollars each month.

If you want to see how they are doing it.  Check out this story posted by a consumer that got scammed – I Got Phished.

The basic scam goes something like this:

1. Fraudsters call you and pretend to be a fraud analyst
2. While they are on the phone with you, they are commandeering your online banking account.
3. As they are the on the phone they ask you to read off passwords that are being sent to your cell phone.
4. As you read off the numbers they are actually using that information to change your banking details, add new services like Zelle and then sending payments to themselves or money mules.

As this consumer learned the hard way, these phony fraud analysts move quick and can drain your account. 

This scam has been hitting Wells Fargo and their customers for months.  If you are ever in doubt, call the bank directly and ask to speak to a fraud analyst before you ever give out those one-time passwords to someone calling you.

Thanks for reading and be careful out there.  The world is full of these conniving bad guys.