Central Missouri Credit Union in Warrensburg notified the Sedalia Police Department on May 28, that its area has been experiencing scammers posing as local bankers or credit intuitions and have reason to believe the same scammers are starting to target people in Sedalia.
“We were notified by a financial intuition in Warrensburg that phone scammers in their area are making their way to Sedalia,” said SPD Cmdr. of Criminal Investigations Bureau David Woolery. “My understanding is they were getting calls from customers about it.”
The scammers are attempting to gain access to personal information by asking victims for important information such as their bank account number, Personal Identification Number for their bank account, date of birth, Social Security number and online passwords.
Woolery explained legitimate banks will ask questions that won’t jeopardize an account.
“If a person receives a phone call from a legitimate bank, they will have generic questions about your specific account,” said Woolery. “They will ask questions about your account that they already have.”
Common questions legitimate banks will ask when calling customers include:
• How many accounts do you have with our bank?
• What was the last transaction you conducted?
Woolery said scammers seem to be targeting the elderly, and people need to watch out for them.
“The elderly fall victim a lot,” said Woolery. “If you have parents that are older or are starting to get dementia, make sure to keep an eye on them.”
Woolery says if someone believes they received a phone call from a scammer, they should hang up immediately and directly call their bank. They need to tell the bank they may have a compromised account, then tell them all the information they may have provided the scammer.
As of Tuesday, the SPD has yet to have any police reports of Sedalia citizens who have been victimized by these scammers.