FDIC-Insured - Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. GovernmentBath State Bank receives numerous questions about scams. Here are a few items to help you avoid a scam.
- Block unwanted calls and text messages. Take steps to block unwanted calls and to filter unwanted text messages.
- Don’t give your personal or financial information in response to a request that you didn’t expect. Honest organizations won’t call, email or text to ask for your birth date or Social Security, bank account and credit card numbers.
- If you get an email or text message from a company you do business with and you think it’s real, it’s still best not to click on any links. Instead, contact them using a web site you know is trustworthy or look up their phone number. Don’t call a number they gave you or the number from your Caller ID.
- Resist the pressure to act immediately. Honest businesses will give you time to make a decision. Anyone who pressures you to pay or give them your personal information is a scammer.
- Know how scammers tell you to pay. Never pay someone who insists that you can only pay with cryptocurrency, a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram, a payment app or a gift card. Never deposit their check and send money back to them.
- Talk to someone you trust. Before you do anything else, tell someone — a friend, a family member, a banker — what happened. Talking about it could help you realize it’s a scam.