Fraud expert warns military against financial scams: ‘It is relentless’

Northfield Bank’s Brower offers tips on how to protect yourself

We have all seen them – emails where a “leader” or “royal personage” from some far away country has surreptitiously smuggled millions from his country’s treasury and wants to share the booty with you – all you need to do is give him your checking or savings account numbers and millions will be yours.

In the two decades since these bogus solicitations began to appear, and with the advent of Artificial Intelligence, scams have become considerably more sophisticated and demand higher levels of attention and vigilance on the part of consumers.

Chris Brower, senior security and fraud coordinator, Northfield Bank.

“There are all kinds of scams and scammers out there and it is relentless,” Chris Brower, senior security and fraud coordinator for Northfield Bank, said. “With AI, scammers can imitate anyone’s voice, even those of your loved ones.”

Brower is a 21-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, 14 of those years investigating all manners of fraud.

Scammers mostly target the elderly, but a lot of scams are targeted at veterans too, says Brower.

According to the website www.army.mil, the most common types of fraud perpetrated on military members and veterans are when scammers

  • visit online dating sites pretending to be in the military;
  • impersonate government officials such as debt collectors;
  • seduce victims to engage in sexual activity online and then threaten exposure unless the victim coughs up money.

Brower said scammers can pose as law enforcement officers or representatives from a charity, lottery, insurance or real estate company, an IT firm or an employment agency.

“The list goes on and on,” he said.

In his position with Northfield Bank, Brower is now on a crusade to make all consumers – not just veterans – aware of the types of scams and scammers that are out there, and what to look for to prevent them from draining your financial accounts.

Scammers can be very creative, he warns.

“Someone who has posted a resume online gets a call,” Brower said, describing a typical employment scam. “The person on the other end of the phone says he is the CEO of a company, and he wants to hire you as an assistant. He tells you he is going to send you a company check you can cash for your job’s start-up costs – things like buying stationary or equipment.

“You get the check, then this ‘CEO’ calls back and tells you the company made a big mistake and sent you too much money. He asks you to deposit the check and use a percentage of it for your start-up up costs and then asks that you reimburse the company for the balance. You do, but of course, the company check turns out to be a fraud.”

Brower, who spends a lot of his time doing workshops and seminars on fraud prevention, has developed a series of red flags for which consumers can be on the lookout.

“The first and best rule,” said Brower about red flags, “is that if it seems too good to be true, it very likely is.”

  • His specific red flags are:
  • Urgent pressure to act immediately;
  • Unusual payment methods (wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency);
  • Grammar or misspellings in e-mails – usually there will be one less letter or one extra letter than would be found in a legitimate email address;
  • A sudden change in the requested payment method.

Brower also provides a list of actions consumers can take to deter scammers:

  • Monitor your accounts regularly;
  • Use secure ATMs in public places;
  • Check ATMs or card readers for signs of tampering;
  • Set spending limits on your accounts to minimize potential fraud;
  • Do not respond to any communication asking for information about your cards;
  • Keep your devices armed with the latest anti-virus software;
  • Use strong and unique passwords;
  • Protect your pin;
  • Use chip and contactless payment methods whenever possible.

Brower provides seminars and workshops for veterans on preventing fraud. For more information on fraud prevention or information on Brower’s seminars, send an email to marketing@enorthfield.com.