I Got a Scam Text Saying My Bank Account Was Locked. How Do I Know What's Real?

Speaker A00:00:37

Your phone buzzes with an urgent message. Your bank account has been locked. Click here immediately. And immediately your heart starts racing.Is it real or is someone trying to steal your money? So today, let's learn how to tell the difference before one click becomes an expensive mistake.Because right now, financial scams are getting more convincing every single year. And the best protection is in fear. It's actually knowing what to look for. So stay with me.Today, I'm going to give you a few simple habits that can protect both your money and your peace of mind. Hello there, and welcome to Financially Confident Christian.I'm the financial evangelist Ralph Estep Jr. And I just want to thank you so much for joining me today.Today is one of those episodes where I see this happening so more and more every day, and it's really all about protecting the money you work so hard to earn. And we got a great listener question that wanted to know, how do I know if a message from my bank is real?And what do I do with a suspicious text or email? And, Ralph, how do I avoid becoming the next victim?The truth is, scammers count on panic and they count on urgency, which gives us less time to think. So I'm going to answer that question today. Now, if you've got a question you'd like me to answer on this show, I would love to hear.This show is fueled by listener questions. And you can get me your question by going simply to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionWe'll put a link in the show notes, but again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionNow, this one, I'm going to read the message to you because the email subject line caught my attention, said, Ralph, I almost clicked a fake bank message. And you know I always share transparency on the show here.This very thing happened to me about 15 years ago, and I almost did the exact same thing this listener did. But this is the listener's question. Hi, Ralph. Last week I received a text saying my debit card had been frozen because of suspicious activity.And there was a link that looked like it belonged to my bank. And it told me to verify my information immediately. But, Ralph, something didn't feel right.So instead of clicking the link, I opened my banking app and looked everything completely normal to me. Later, I found out it was a scam. And honestly, Ralph, it scared me because the message looked incredibly convincing.So, Ralph, how do I protect myself from these scams without becoming afraid every time I receive a message from my bank? Thank you. Well, thank you for sending in that Question. And these scams are happening more and more every day.I get a morning briefing and this briefing almost every day. There's a new scam on the horizon. People don't rob banks anymore. They just scam people out of their money.And the truth is this, scammers succeed when they create urgency. Because that's what this is all about. They want to get you urgent so you don't think, you just react. But wise people slow down before they respond.And I'm going to help you build a simple process that you can use every single time. Today is one of those shows you want to share with everybody. First thing you got to do is you've got to pause before you click.When you see that thing come in, the first thing you do. Timeout. Scammers want your immediate action.That urgency is one of the biggest weapons they have because they just assume you're going to be freaked out, you're going to have fear, you're going to be scared, you're going to click that message. Urgency is a big weapon that they use. Real financial institutions expect you to verify their information carefully.So slow down, give yourself some time to think. Hey, be honest with yourself. If your account been hacked, taking five minutes to make sure it's real is not going to make it any worse.Because urgency is often the first warning sign that, hey, we've got a problem here. Second thing, go directly to the source. I love what you said in your listener question today.You said, ralph, the first thing I did is I stopped and I went to the banking app. Never ever, never trust the link inside the message. Open your bank's official app, type the website yourself.If you need to call the number printed on the back of your debit or credit card or on your bank statement, you got to verify everything independently. It is so easy for these scammers to create these spoofed websites and these spoofed emails. And yes, I got one of these myself.Like I said, it's been about 15 years ago. I got this email in the inbox that said my account had been frozen and I was freaking out. I had just been in business a couple years myself.Everybody was counting on me. And I saw this and it looked perfect. They had the bank logo. It looked like the bank's website.So never let a stranger choose the door you walk through. Make that decision yourself. Now I'm going to share with you a couple of common red flags. Here's some things you can look at in the email.When I look back at the email that I Got there were some red flags. One of the big ones here is poor grammar or spelling.If you see spelling errors, if you see grammar that doesn't want to make sense, truth is, the bank probably didn't write it. So requests for passwords or verification or codes, they don't usually come from your bank in the form of a text or an email.If you get a threat that says your account's going to be closed immediately, nine times out of 10, maybe 10 times out of 10, the bank's not the one sending it. The bank is going to send you a letter, they're going to call you, they're going to do something else.Now here's another red flag, and I see this one happening all the time. If anybody ever requests that you pay something by gift card or cryptocurrency, I can guarantee you that is a scam.Or if they ever tell you there's pressure to keep the conversation secret. Hey, don't tell anybody about this. And especially don't call the police. Usually that's a scam because scammers strive on secrecy.Legitimate businesses, legitimate banks, it's all out there in the open. Now, one of the other things you can do is protect your accounts before problems happen.Yeah, it's bad to be involved in these scams, but prevention is where it's at. To really prevent this.One of the biggest things you can do, and it still floors me that people aren't doing this to this day, you've got to have two factor authentication. Now, if you don't know what that means, it basically means you have to have two things to access your bank account.Now, the truth is most banks are requiring this. So they're going to have to give you a password and you're going to have a code sent to you.You're going to have an authentication app, some other source. So make sure you've got that set up. Make sure your passwords are strong and unique.Don't use, you know, your dog's name or your or your mother's maiden name. That's like the biggest one out there. Make make sure they're strong. Make sure they're unique, and monitor your accounts regularly.One of the things I love to do at banks is turn on transaction alerts, and those are texts or those are emails that you've asked for.This way you can set it up so that if something happens on your account, if there's a big deposit, if there's a big withdrawal, hey, everybody likes a big deposit. But if there's a big Withdrawal, there's something strange. You're going to get an alert because prevention is easier than recovery.I've talked to people who have worked with being scammed. And the thing is, they all say the same thing. If I had just prevented this a little bit. A locked door is easier than replacing what was stolen.But here's the big takeaway for today. You got to share what you learned here today.If you've been through one of these situations, tell somebody, tell your parents, tell your grandparents. These are the people that I see getting scammed every day. Talk to your children about this, tell your friends about it.It's a great coffee time conversation. Many of these scams succeed because people feel embarrassed afterwards and they don't want to tell anybody.But your story, even if you lost a little money or if you went down a wormhole, a rabbit hole, you weren't expecting that story. Just like the story I told you about me today can protect someone else. And that experience can become someone else's protection.Now I want to go a little deeper into the faith side of what you're talking about today. Because one of the enemy's oldest tactics is deception. You know, you've heard it, Bill. He's the father of lies. He's the grand deceiver.And he rarely begins with obvious lies. Instead, he mixes just enough truth to make the lie believable. Just like these financial scams, they work the exact same way.It looks like it's from your bank, it looks like it's got their logo. It all seems right. But here's when faith doesn't promise us. It doesn't promise us that we're never going to encounter dishonest people.Unfortunately, we live in a world that has dishonest people in it. And it doesn't promise us the world is always going to be fair to us. I wish it did. But it doesn't.And it doesn't promise temptation and deception will disappear. This is the world we live in. There are dishonest people. It's not fair. And there is temptation and deception. But here's what faith does promise us.God gives us discernment. He gives us this, this keen sense of discernment to those who seek his wisdom. And that means slowing down, praying about these things, acting wisely.And when you do those things, it avoids the trap and avoids the panic that would lead us into bad decisions. That wisdom that we have from God protects us and it allows our discernment to grow. And prayer sharpens that judgment. Fear rushes in.But wisdom helps us Pause. Sometimes the most spiritual financial decisions you can make is simply refusing to rush and listen.I don't want you to become suspicious of everybody. You simply need to become wise. Wisdom protects what fear never could. So here's your win for today.Today is the day to strengthen your financial security. Right now, turn on those account alerts, review your passwords. Enable that two factor authentication if you haven't.And here's one thing a lot of people don't tell you to do. Save your bank's official phone number in your contacts so you know how to reach them. And don't be afraid to pick up the phone and call them.Don't ever use the number that's in the text or an email. Use the number that you know. Preparation today is going to prevent panic tomorrow.Which leads us to our Bible verse for today comes to us from the book of Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 15. Now this one's a little harsh when I tell you what this says, new living translation. It says, only simpletons believe everything they're told.The prudent carefully consider their steps. So verify your steps. That's living in wisdom. Let that discernment protect you because those careful decisions prevent unnecessary loss.And this is what God encourages us through, our stewardship. How about we pray together right now? Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for being our source of wisdom and and our source of protection.Help us to remain alert without becoming fearful. It's so easy to live in fear, Lord, but don't let us do that.Give us discernment whenever we're faced with decisions involving our finances, Lord, and protect our families from those who wish to deceive us. Teach us always to slow down, Lord, to seek truth and to respond with wisdom instead of panic.May we honor you, Lord, by faithfully protecting the resources you've entrusted to our care. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen, friend.If you hear nothing else I've said today, protecting your finances begins with slowing down, verifying what you got there and go directly to official sources. Strengthen your account security and share what you've learned for others. There's no rush here. Don't let that urgency rush you. Verify those things.Learn the warning signs. Strengthen your account security and use wisdom to protect yourself and others. Again, share this episode with people.There are so many people that are being scammed today. Now, maybe you're going through a financial situation that you'd like me to help you with. I would love to hear from you.You can send me a voicemail by simply going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail. We'll put a link right in the show notes, but again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail. Thank you so much for joining me today. I want to encourage you. Don't live in fear. Just stay financially savvy and let the Lord's wisdom and discernment guide you in all your steps.May God bless you and you have a great day.