April Fools Day in college can go a little too far.
The recipe was there: young, competitive men with just enough mischievousness, cleverness, and technology to be dangerous.
I was sitting in my dorm’s common room, studying for midterms. The NCAA wrestling championships had recently concluded, complete with all of its travel, and I was playing catch-up. It was late–about 12:45am (you won’t find me awake at that hour these days unless a baby needs a bottle).
I didn’t even think about the date turning over.
A soft notification informed me of a new email. I glossed over it, and then my gaze sharpened. It was from my academic advisor, Khary. I read the first few words, and my heart skipped a beat.
He informed me that I was failing half of my classes, and that I was going to need to withdraw from school. He listed my classes and their grades, said he was very disappointed in me, and informed me of my next steps.
I remember leaning back, bewildered, palms suddenly sweaty. I sat there for about thirty seconds, reeling from shock. I knew about one class, but it was a temporary situation until I turned in a paper that I’d been provided extra time to complete due to missing class from my travels. The second class shocked me.
Thankfully, my next step was denial. My grades were accessible online. I logged in; I had three As and one F. What was going on? My eyes drifted across my computer screen to the date.
Then it clicked. No one gets a legitimate email on April 1st like this. I still had a month to finish my semester. No way. And I had a whole team of pranksters, any one of whom would find it hilarious to play a trick on me.
I checked–the email address was correct. No random letters you might find in a bad email. But I still knew. And I thought I knew who the culprits were.
So I decided to turn the tables.
Now, why is this in a financial blog post? Consider this: my story took place over a decade ago. Technology has changed dramatically in that time. Spoofing, viruses, phishing, and all the dangerous creatures in the cybersecurity jungle have become significantly more sophisticated since then. But even then, my teammates could generate and impersonate a legitimate duke.edu email address.
It has never been a more dangerous time online because it has never been easier to experience fraud. There are more enabled bad actors out there than ever before.
Kathy Stokes, the director of Fraud Prevention with AARP, points to the Federal Trade Commission’s estimate that there was over $137 billion in fraud in 2022 alone. And with the proliferation of AI, it will become even easier for criminals to steal information and money.
So how do we safeguard our data and financial information?
First, be a little suspicious with communication. Email, texts, and even phone calls are all tools criminals can leverage to steal from you. You may have heard stories of late night calls from supposed relatives being held for ransom. Computer generated voices and recordings convince unsuspecting targets to transfer money to release their “grandson” from jail. Be cautious–find ways to confirm identities or double check. You almost never need someone to remote into your computer. Communication from your bank, UPS, Amazon, computer company, etc. should be considered carefully. And if you aren’t sure, do not click the link or respond to the text. Instead, look online and call the general service phone number, or visit a website and directly log in.
Second, there are places you can go if someone steals from you. Contact your bank or credit card company immediately. For someone who steals from your bank account, call the police. You want a police report documenting what happened; it increases your chance of restitution. There are significant pushes for both state and federal funding to provide relief to people who have experienced fraud. Sometimes home insurance will also cover the loss from fraud, and you want documented evidence in case you need to submit a claim.
You can also go to www.IC3.gov, the FBI report database, and submit a report. Once you report it, print a copy and go to your local FBI office to ask for help. You want documentation.
Third, take it seriously no matter your age. Financial fraud is not something only technologically illiterate centenarians with failing memories experience. I mentored a young man, seventeen years old and a self-professed “digital native,” who lost his life’s savings by believing an email from a guru claiming to help people buy cryptocurrencies destined to become the next bitcoin. Thankfully, it was only about $2,000–but it was an expensive way to learn the pitfalls of trusting an investment that seemed too good to be true.
We have had many clients experience different kinds of attempted financial fraud over the years. Here are a few examples (because knowing about these kinds of scams and fraud attempts can be one of the best safeguards against falling for it yourself, or at least minimizing the damage):
- A computer repair company remoting into a computer logged into a bank account and dimming the display so you can’t see what they are doing.
- A service you pay for informing you that your payment is overdue and that you need to immediately pay them now. Sometimes they want bank info, and some even demand you buy gift cards for them.
- A delivery company requesting your payment information in order to attempt to redeliver your “package”.
- Someone creating a fake check using your bank information.
- Credit card information being simply stolen and used to buy things.
- People leveraging online dating services to ask for money and financial help.
- People offering items for sale via online marketplaces and requesting online payment up front, with no intention of ever delivering anything.
There are countless other examples, but these are all examples our clients have experienced in the past.
Which brings me to my last big tip:
If you are not sure, immediately call us. We can help you navigate what to do if your information is compromised or you are worried about a possible compromise. For example, sometimes we recommend freezing your credit if your information has been compromised. It is fairly simple and quick to do–you visit the Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian credit websites and request a credit freeze on each of them. It can keep someone with your information from opening fraudulent credit accounts in your name.
Maintaining your financial security is one of our top priorities, and we take many precautions when it comes to your accounts here. Don’t be surprised if we ask about upcoming expenses–besides helping us plan and invest properly, it also helps us confirm that your email a few weeks or months later asking for money is legitimate. Sometimes we still call to confirm, and third-party distributions have several layers of security in order to be processed.
Back to the story.
My team had a groupchat. I messaged the entire team that I had withdrawn from school and would need to miss the following academic year. I apologized for letting them down. A few of my teammates immediately said I didn’t have to withdraw because that wasn’t academic policy. I told them that I had an academic scholarship that was dependent on maintaining my grades above a 3.0 GPA, and if I was under that the scholarship would terminate. With Duke University tuition costing over $60,000 per year, I couldn’t feasibly continue and would be going home.
About three minutes later, I knew who my culprits were. They called me, aghast, trying to reason through how I might stay at the school. In their minds, the best wrestler on the team–our only All-American–had just been removed because of their prank (not to mention that we were good friends and they might actually miss me). Our head coach would make them do sprints and sweat until the wrestling room looked like a fish tank. I let them stammer through possible options for fifteen minutes, wished them a wonderful April Fools Day, and went to bed.
I was lucky: the “bad guys” didn’t win, and they weren’t after my life savings. The same cannot be said of the countless fraud attempts that do lead to a loss of money.
But for a moment–a moment that lasted a very long time–I did panic. My mind went blank and did not know what to do. Fear swept away the rational part of my brain.
There is a name for that in the criminal world. They call it “getting them under the ether,” and it isn’t just inciting fear. Kathy Stokes explains it well:
“to get the target into a heightened emotional state, whether it’s fear, panic, there’s something wrong with your grandson…[or] excitement: I just won a lottery and a car. Fear that your computer has just been taken over by a horrible virus. Getting someone into that state of heightened emotion is what the criminals use to refer to as ‘getting them under the ether.’ Because they know that when we occupy that spot in our brain where emotions are happening, it’s hard to back out to access logical thinking.”
Though I never admitted it to my teammates, I fell under the ether.
Now imagine someone who might be cognitively declining or in unfamiliar territory. Breaking out of the emotion long enough to think rationally is no easy feat. It can take an external force to break the ether, like someone asking them questions calmly, giving them clear instructions on next steps, and showing them the way. We are happy to help with exactly that. Put our phone number in your phone if you haven’t already and do not be afraid to call us.
Quotes from Kathy Stokes are from an interview here: https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/the-long-view/fae0bfa3-723c-4ac8-a84b-6c4a5797343a
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