How to protect yourself from scams and financial fraud
Posted On May 1, 2024
Dan Sigmond has seen lots of scams. It’s his job to arrest the guys perpetrating them.
Sigmond, our guest in a recent episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” is a special agent in the Mobile, Alabama, FBI office who specializes in financial fraud and white-collar crimes.
And he says the best way to protect yourself against scams is to never let your guard down.
You have to pay attention. You have to question everything,” said Sigmond, who has 19 years with the FBI after serving in the U.S. Air Force for nearly a decade. “What we see is when our victims are interviewed, they mention that they’ve been targeted by some kind of what we call a social engineering technique.”
These techniques convince victims to unwittingly give the perpetrator some of their or their company’s personal information. There are a variety of methods that criminals use to make this happen, from email phishing scams to business email or telephone manipulation, to employee impersonation.
Criminals can either gather enough information about a victim or the company to gain their trust, or simply trick them into providing them with access to their company’s network through a malicious link in an email.
However they do it, it can have disastrous results. Sigmond’s job is to investigate these crimes, prosecute the perpetrators and, when possible, to recoup the victim’s losses.
Education, however, is another important element that can help stop these crimes before they start.
“By educating the public on how to maintain vigilance, how to question things that don’t seem right, that’s really ultimately the best way,” he said.
To learn more about financial fraud and scams, or to report a potential financial crime, visit www.ic3.gov.