Avoiding & Reporting Scams

How to Avoid Scams

Recognizing common signs of scams can help you avoid being the next victim of financial fraud. Here are some things to remember about scams and tips to help you avoid them.

• Don’t give your personal information or account numbers to people you don’t know or trust. Scammers may pretend to be an organization you know. Legitimate organizations won’t call, email, or text to ask for personal or financial information like your social security number or bank information.
• Resist the pressure to act immediately. Scams are often presented with urgency and threats or may try to convince you that you’ve won a prize. Remain calm and give yourself time to think before you act.
• Don’t give money to people or organizations you don’t know. Scammers may request money via gift cards or using a money transfer service. Never send money in any format to people or organizations you don’t know.
• Log out of online banking. If you are in tech support chat with companies including Microsoft, Apple, or Google, you should not be logged into online banking.
• Ask questions. Don’t hesitate to talk to someone you know and trust if you aren’t sure the call, email, or text you’re receiving is a scam. You can also hang up and verify the scam by calling the organization’s direct phone number. We have a few phone numbers listed below that may be helpful to you, and our bankers are available to help you determine if someone is attempting to scam you. You can always call our customer care team at (706) 453-2265.

Recently Reported Scams from Customers

We have received several reports of customers being targeted by various scams, and we have had to act to protect our customers. To keep yourself and your money safe, here are some scams to be aware of.

• Online retailers that ask you to update your payment information. Companies including Amazon, Netflix, etc. already have your information. They will not reach out to you by phone or email asking you to update it.
• Phone calls from Amazon or other retailers or businesses that convince you to open and click on emails. Do not follow instructions from calls you receive from retailers if they ask you to open and click on emails. If you think something is wrong with your account, contact their customer service line directly.
• Spam calls that threaten you unless you provide your debit card number.
• The authorities contact you to let you know they will arrest you if you don’t pay them. The FBI and IRS do not call you to inform you that you’re going to be arrested. Read more about government impersonator and fake emergency scams.
• Google Play gift cards as a form of payment. No business will accept Google Play gift cards as payment. Read more about the Google Play gift card scam.
• Tech support scam. Microsoft will not call you or notify you by email to let you know your computer has a virus. Read more about the Microsoft tech support scam. In June of 2023, a customer almost lost nearly $20,000 after calling a number on a pop-up that said their computer wasn’t operating properly.
• A company that asks you to ship cash to them. No legitimate company will ask you to ship money to them.
• Wrong number texts. You may receive a text message on your phone that is addressed to someone else or appear to be from someone you know texting from an unknown number. It could read, “What time is dinner tonight?” or something more simpler like, “hey, it’s been a while, let’s catch up!” After you reply that it must be a wrong number, the scammer keeps up a friendly banter and may eventually ask you to take some sort of action. Don’t fall for it. The best thing to do is to engage with text messages from people that you know.