On Your Side: Protect your money from account takeover scams
Within minutes, a Ventura County native now serving in the military overseas was left without a penny to his name.
He asked KCAL News to not share his name for security reasons after he was duped into handing over his credentials when a person posing as a representative of his credit union called him.
"The guy said 'There's a suspicious transaction going on in Chicago and are you currently in Chicago right now?'" the victim said.
Except this service member wasn't in Chicago. He was visiting his family back home in Ventura County. The scammer then told him to verify his identity and knew enough basic information about him to sound credible.
"He got my name, rank in the military, even my home address all correctly," he said. "I believed that guy."
The scammer likely got the Information from public records. The thieves even spoofed a phone number that looked nearly identical to the credit union's and convinced the 25-year-old to click a link texted to him and reset his password.
"Starting at that point, I pretty much had no control over my bank account," said the victim. "This guy started adding three people into my account. They started transferring my money."
They drained his savings and checking accounts, totaling about $7,000. They also opened up a $6,500 loan in his name before the line went dead.
A recent report found that 22% of adults in the United States have been victims of an account takeover scam. In total, 24 million households have lost billions of dollars.
"They have a playbook that they work from, so once they have access to that account, they move through it very quickly," said cyber security expert Crane Hassold.
Hassold, who works with Abnormal Security, said scammers try to catch victims off guard.
"A lot of what's going on with these scams is to simply try to get people to not pay attention, trying to get them to make decisions very quickly," he said.
The expert said the best way to avoid being a victim is to slow down and independently verify with your bank before you engage.
"It's really difficult for people to stop and think in the moment when those requests are coming in because we are anxious that something is wrong with our account," he said. "That's what scammers are hoping will happen."
Thankfully, the Ventura County service member got his money back after his credit union investigated the scam. Experts said he did everything right by reporting the fraud immediately so the bank could reverse some of the money transfers. Often people are too embarrassed to report the fraud right away and that could cost them greatly.