Yikes, it happened to me!  The good news is, my bank was all over the FRAUD alert process and texted me right away. Because of my banks quick action and my response, I did not have any funds taken from my account.

 

This one experience got me thinking about the Cyber Protection our home insurance companies are now offering as an additional coverage. (Cost about $50)   Although these are not bank fraud claims, for those that are interested this is now protection you can add to your home insurance policy!

 

Check out these examples borrowed from Safety Insurance!

 

An insured fell victim to a phishing attempt. He opened a file in an email he received and the file unleashed a virus. In turn, the virus infected the computer forcing him to hire an outside expert to reformat the hard drive, reinstall the operating system and all the software, and restore data from the backup.    Total Paid Loss: $2,200

 

An insured received an email from her grandson. It said he was in a car accident and was in trouble, possibly facing criminal charges and needed money for a lawyer. In this email the grandson told his grandmother, the insured, that he was afraid to ask his father for the money. Within 20 minutes she received another email, this time from her grandson’s lawyer. He gave a rundown of the situation, including an accident report and the non-life threatening injuries of the victim that were sustained and the costs to cover the damage. The injured individual agreed to accept $5,000 to cover his costs. The victim was ready to sign a release just as soon as that amount was wired and the grandson would walk away with a clean record. A money transfer was sent as instructed. The next morning the grandmother received another email asking for additional money. She called her grandson to find out none of this had happened; she had been defrauded. Total Paid Loss: $5,000

 

An insured received a ransom note on his computer screen soon after he had discovered that all of his files had been locked. The message indicated that his files were not only locked but that he needed to pay $2,000 to obtain the key to decrypt them. If the payment was not received within a week the price would increase to $3,000. After that, the decryption key would be destroyed and any chance of accessing the files on his computer and the data would be lost forever. After consultation with an expert, he decided to pay the ransom. Total Paid Loss: $2,000

 

Be careful out there and do warm others about any fraud schemes you encounter!