FBI warns of new 'banking spoof' scam: Here's what to know to protect yourself

It seems as though scammers trying to part you from your money are everywhere these days.

Here’s one more tactic to be aware of: the FBI is warning customers what it refers to as “banking spoof calls.”

These types of calls involve scammers posing as bankers or even law enforcement officials who tell their victims that they need to transfer their money to a different bank account.

Jennifer Lichthardt told ABC7 in Chicago that she lost $40,000 due to one of these calls.

“The first call I got [matched] the number on the back of my Chase debit card, and it said Chase fraud department,” Lichthardt said.

The caller said that Chase employees were able to access her account.

“They read me my account number. They had my account balance down to the penny,” Lichthardt said.

FBI officials said that criminals can get ahold of personal banking information via the dark web and can then use a bank’s automated system to discover account balances and transactions.

The scammers convinced Lichthardt to move $40,000 from her Chase account into a “secured” account. The morning, the money had disappeared.

“We urge all consumers to ignore phone, text, or internet requests to move money or gain access to their computer or bank accounts. Banks and legitimate companies won’t make these requests, but scammers will,” a Chase spokesperson said in a statement sent to ABC7.

“When somebody is calling pretending to be the FBI, the victim then thinks they are in trouble. They are already frazzled, and when they are making these decisions, the criminal then starts to rush them more. The more they are rushed, the more decision-making they make last-minute,” Robert Richardson, a special agent with the FBI Chicago Field Office, said in a separate statement.

To avoid getting scammed: