Help protect yourself from impersonation scams

In today’s increasingly complex security landscape, new scams emerge and evolve on a regular basis. Every day, news headlines around the globe include stories about fraudsters perpetrating cyber attacks to gain access to people’s money, or innocent individuals falling victim to costly scams.

Fraudsters perpetrate these crimes in a variety of ways, but many of the top scams have one thing in common: criminals are pretending to be someone they’re not.

What are impersonation scams?

Impersonation scams occur when a fraudster pretends to be someone trustworthy, familiar or a person of authority to deceive a victim into sharing sensitive account or payment information, granting access to their bank accounts, or authorizing a transfer of funds.

How do impersonation scams work?

The fraudster gains the victim’s trust because of who they claim to be, or because of what they know about the victim, and the victim lowers their guard. 

Fraudsters can tailor their message to the victim with information that is readily available online. Scammers then use technology to appear even more credible. Spoofing tools can make fake email addresses, phone numbers and websites appear legitimate. Scams involving AI-generated fake videos, pictures and voice (also known as deepfakes) are also becoming increasingly common and convincing.

In combination, these methods make the scams seem plausible to someone caught off guard by an urgent call, email or text message.

Types of impersonation scams

Here are some of the top types of impersonation scams to watch out for.

Investment specialist impersonation scams

When it comes to investment opportunities that seem too good to be true, they usually are — so it’s important to trust your instincts and ignore them.

Fraudsters are posing as bankers or investment professionals to scam individuals with fraudulent investment opportunities — often involving cryptocurrency and bitcoin — that falsely promise large returns. Once victims invest, fraudsters disappear with their funds.

Scammers are even leveraging deepfake technology to create believable, realistic-looking videos and audio recordings that mimic the appearance and speech of well-known investment or banking professionals and make it seem as though they are offering financial advice.

These fraudulent videos are circulating through ads on social media platforms and being posted on fake social media accounts designed to look like those of real professionals. In some cases, these videos may direct users to phishing websites that aim to collect their banking credentials, while in other cases users are urged to join private chats on other platforms, such as WhatsApp, where fraudsters can attempt to trick them into giving up information or funds.

What to look out for:

• Be extremely skeptical of investment opportunities offered on social media.
• Be wary of any unsolicited investment advice, particularly from someone you’ve only interacted with online.
• Beware of people who make a connection on a social media platform and then attempt to move communication to a private channel such as WhatsApp or text message. Legitimate financial professionals will not approach potential clients this way.
• Beware of advertisements containing language guaranteeing high returns on investments or offering free money.
• Requests to send funds through an intermediary or to an account at an institution different than the one the “financial advisor” works at.
• Requests that require you to download specific software to supposedly assist with transferring funds or purchasing crypto assets.
• Firms or representatives whose professional backgrounds cannot be validated by conducting independent research, checking additional sources, and looking at their history and track record.

Learn more about investment scams.

Telephone and internet company impersonation

Fraudsters are impersonating representatives from well-known telephone and internet service companies, contacting customers through a variety of channels — especially over the phone — with offers of deals, new phones, and discounted plans.

Ultimately, the goal of the scammers is to trick their victims into giving up money or personal information that will allow the fraudsters to access their devices and accounts. 

What to watch for:

• Requests for you to provide or confirm any kind of personal or financial information.
• Requests for you to complete web forms with your personal information or to provide your signature on an agreement or contract.
• Watch for emails/texts/phone calls:
  • With generic greetings.
  • From unfamiliar or suspicious sources with fake links (hover over them to ensure they are going to the legitimate website).
  • That contain grammar or spelling errors.

Learn more about telecom impersonation scams.

Bank impersonation scams 

Scams where fraudsters impersonate banks are on the rise. Scammers send phishing messages and text messages that look like they’re from banks, but in fact lead to malicious websites. Scammers are even spoofing legitimate bank phone numbers to call individuals asking for personal information to resolve supposed issues with their accounts.

Once they have that information, the fraudsters look to gain access to customer funds and accounts. 

What to look out for:

• Important: BMO will never contact you via unsolicited email, text, or phone call to ask for sensitive information, passwords, PINs, or verification codes (one-time passcodes). If you get a call, voicemail, email, or text from someone claiming to be from BMO and you think it’s suspicious, hang up and contact us immediately using the information on the back of your card.
• Be on the lookout for email addresses that are inconsistent with the legitimate company’s email domain and email addresses with misspelled or added characters.

Learn more about bank impersonation scams.

Remote access scams 

Scammers are impersonating tech support staff from well-known companies to trick their victims into believing there is a problem with their computer or other electronic equipment.

Fraudsters ask for remote access to computers and other devices to “fix” these fake problems — and once they get access, they look to steal data or install malicious software.

What to look out for:

• Requests that come via a phone call from a customer service agent who alerts you that something is wrong with your account; they indicate they need to help you.
• Requests that involve visiting a website, downloading an app, or providing remote access to your device.

Learn more about remote access scams.

Tips to help protect against impersonation scams

• Slow down! Avoid any “urgent” requests and be mindful of responding too quickly with personal or financial information.
• Say no to unsolicited calls or emails. If something doesn’t feel right, hang up immediately and call the company using a trusted phone number, such as the number on a legitimate company website or the back of your card. TIP: Bookmark your most frequently visited websites to avoid fake websites that can appear at the top of internet searches.
• Never give out any personal information on unsolicited contact, especially non-publicly available information such as account numbers, passwords, PINs or credit card numbers. 
• If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is — be skeptical.
• Review emails and URLs carefully. Emails and websites can look like they are from trusted companies, but there may be small differences like one extra letter, a period, or a .net instead of .com. 

The bottom line

In today’s challenging security environment, we all must navigate a fraud landscape where criminals are convincingly posing as representatives from banks, phone, internet companies, and other trusted organizations, while attempting to contact their would-be victims over a wide variety of channels including phone, email, online advertising, text message, and social media.

By staying informed and adopting the tips shared here, you can help protect yourself against imposters and help to safeguard your funds and personal information.