FBI warns of financial scam involving bank cards

By The Star Staff

The FBI alerted the public late last week about a fraud scheme in which scammers pose as bank representatives to fraudulently obtain bank cards with “chips” from clients of financial institutions.

According to the FBI, scammers call customers from a number that appears to be from the bank and inform them about alleged fraudulent activity on their accounts. The imposters then tell the customer to cut up their bank card, leaving the “chip” intact, to be returned to the bank.

“The impostor arranges for an accomplice to visit the customer at home, posing as a bank employee, to pick up the cut card, but with the chip intact,” the FBI said in a statement. If the imposters do not have the card’s PIN, the accomplice uses social engineering techniques to obtain it from the customer.

Using the chip and PIN, fraudsters can steal money from a customer’s bank account. It is not yet known how the fraudsters obtain bank customers’ personal information and they are not believed to target a specific demographic.

The FBI urged the public to report fraudulent activity to the FBI’s Internet Complaint Portal (IC3) at www.ic3.gov, including details such as how they were contacted, phone numbers, and aliases used by the scammers, using the keyword #BankChipHack. It also recommends contacting the financial institution to regain control of the accounts, change passwords, and set alerts for suspicious access attempts or transactions.