Image of Magnifying Glass get the Dictionary definition of Fraud

Vishing Threats Are On the Rise

The bank has recently heard from multiple sources regarding scams that use sophisticated “vishing” tactics to compromise accounts. These scams have generally begun with the customer receiving spoofed telephone calls, purporting to be from the bank, and sometimes even fraudulently displaying the institution’s name and/or main phone number in the caller I.D. frame. The perpetrators are then using a variety of social engineering tactics to reassure customers — stating that they are calling to help mitigate potential fraud and requesting that customers provide online banking credentials including the username, password and multi-factor authentication codes received by text.

Please remember that no one from North Shore Bank will ever contact you and ask for your username, password, or security code . . . under any circumstance!

Unfortunately, once the scammers gain access to customer online banking accounts, they can easily initiate peer-to-peer (P2P) payments (most typically using Zelle), intra-bank transfers, electronic funds transfers and even wire transfers. It has also been reported that fraudsters have sometimes first initiated debit card transactions. Card transactions have been noted as originating from Texas and retailers such as Kroger and Walgreens. The fraudsters know that real-time fraud prevention — like the service that North Shore Bank provides through Enfact — will initiate automated phone calls to the consumers to verify flagged transactions. They have reportedly preempted these automated calls by first calling the bank customers and advising them to respond favorably to the subsequent automated phone calls by marking them as “no fraud”.

If You Suspect That You’ve Been Scammed

  • File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
  • Contact Customer Support at North Shore Bank — (978) 573-1300.
  • File a report with your local law enforcement agency.
Source – Massachusetts Bankers Association Special Bulletin
“Fraud Alert: Zelle and Online Banking Platform,” March 5, 2022