Scams are not only recurring in Williston, but also are becoming more sophisticated every year. Williston bank executives are holding weekly staff meetings to review new fraud trends. Scam and identity theft prevention seminars are being offered at least once a year at local banks.
Although bank policies differ when dealing with scams, their goals remain the same -- protecting the interest of customers.
The issue of scams and identity theft is becoming so prevalent that as of Nov. 1, the "red flag financial mandate" goes into effect. Vicki Kjellerson, Williston American State Bank and Trust Company human resource and operating manager, said the red flag mandate offers additional protection to customers' information, reduces the risk of loss to customers and ensures the safety and soundness of financial institutions.
Kjellerson she is unable to expand on what the program entails to maintain its privacy. However, she did say the mandate intends to alert financial institutions of potential identity theft situations, so bank personnel can help identify possible abusers and assist victims of identity theft. “It's a written identity theft prevention program to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft in connection to opening of accounts,” said Marilyn Olson, American State Bank and Trust Company assistant vice president and sales manager.
“We are already ahead of the ball game most of the time,” said Kjellerson, who added the red flag mandate enhances the bank's preventative scam programs like the Customer Information Program (CIP).
Olson said American State Bank and Trust requests all customers to comply with the CIP criteria to open an account at this bank, which includes personal information such as tax identification, date of birth, occupation, phone numbers and two current forms of identification. Olson added being strict about checking this information is one way to prevent fraud in the future.
Kjellerson said tellers are pretty good at identifying counterfeit checks. Whenever tellers suspect checks are a fake, they work with the customers and automatically hold these funds in case the account doesn’t exist. They ask customers if they either knew the money was being sent to them or if they know who is sending it.
“Well, most of the time they say no, and that's a red flag right there,” said Olson, who added many of the scams target the elderly.
As a last resort, the check is sent for collection so customers’ bank accounts are not affected, said Kjellerson.
“We don't want anybody out the money, especially when we are looking at thousands of dollars,” said Kjellerson, who added counterfeit checks are brought to the bank every day.
Olson saw three counterfeit checks last week, two of which were from Canada.
Kjellerson said American State communicates with banks across the state via e-mail whenever fraud is taking place.
“We are on our toes because it's something new all the time. By the time you think you got it down, something else pops up,” added Kjellerson.
All banks approach the issue differently, as Williston's First National Bank and Trust prefers to hold training sessions on scam and identity theft prevention about four times a year, said Diane Olson, cashier vice president. Olson added tellers at the bank receive continuous updates on current scams, so “they are constantly getting trained.”
“We try to make sure we talk to all of our front-line staff and let them know what the current way of doing things is,” said Wendy Hendrickson, First National Bank and Trust retail services officer.
Hendrickson added that First National Bank and Trust also gets alerts from the Office of Comptroller of Currency whenever any fraudulent activity is happening locally and statewide.
She said the newest scam involves luring people into being mystery shoppers for well-known businesses. People are sent checks and are told to make purchases at specified business, while keeping about $100 for their work, said Hendrickson.
“They are getting smarter to try to make it not look as phony as it is,” said Hendrickson.
She added scam criminals make people think they are being employed.
Hendrickson said scams are difficult to catch, and therefore, banks are forced to question customers.
“Our tellers are encouraged to ask customers more questions than we ever used to,” said Hendrickson.
Overall, banks prevent scams from happening because customers provide them with whatever counterfeit items they receive in the mail.
Hendrickson said obvious indicators that items are counterfeit include misspelling on checks, congratulation letters and the source of the funds.
For example, if a person won the lottery, checks need to come from the lottery company, which is not the case in fake checks.
“I don't know why people think they are entitled to this money,” said Hendrickson. “We've had to put holds on a lot more items that we ever used to.”
Hendrickson said it is necessary to hold suspicious checks, even though the measure may seem am inconvenience for those customers providing legitimate checks. She wants to remind the public, “if it is too good to be true, it probably isn't.”
But as importantly, Hendrickson said, “if you haven’t done anything to actually earn money, it’s probably not real money.”
At Williston's First International, a security division located in Watford City conducts all prevention programs, said President Larry Dewhirst. At least twice a year, this security division holds separate fraud prevention seminars for bank personnel and customers. It also provides continuous alerts about recurring scams.
Dewhirst said the Williston branch sees about two frauds each month.
The software at First International for checking accounts and credit cards further enhances its security division, said Dewhirst. The checking account software alerts the main system of irregularities in signatures, as well as unusual purchases made on accounts. The bank also automatically blocks international charges on credit cards until customers confirm they are going overseas.
Williston's Gate City Bank branch manager Roxanne Llewellyn said it also has had to develop preventative measures to deal with scams.
“We've had a lot of experience with counterfeit and fraudulent acts, unfortunately,” said Llewellyn.
Tellers at Gate City Banks hold actual counterfeited checks that are brought to them by customers.
“They get to see the actual checks because they do look real,” added Llewellyn.
In addition, Gate City provides quarterly training to all personnel. Tellers work with customers who bring in suspected items by asking them where they got the check and who gave it to them, which helps determine the legitimacy of the funds.
“Our tellers are pretty trained now. We have not taken any loss on this because we've really been watching them,” said Llewellyn.
Gate City personnel also utilize internal resources like phone numbers and Web sites to determine whether suspected checks are indeed counterfeit.
Llewellyn added Gate City is seeing more scams than before, with a couple just last week.
“It's more about questioning the customer where they got the check,” added Llewelly.
She said whenever customers are asked to return money that is "a red flag."
Williston's U.S. Bank branch manager Ashley Murphy said the institution has not seen any scams at this location, and therefore, could not comment on the issue.
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