A credit union's mission: Helping consumers identify scams before they become victims

Maryann Bills remembers sensing that the woman who walked into the branch of a credit union was already on edge. Her emotions shifted into high gear, and she wanted to withdraw all her money, quickly.

"The police supposedly called her," according to Bills, a Michigan Legacy Credit Union branch manager. "And told her that her daughter was in a car accident. And she needed $5,000 to get her daughter out of jail."

The woman needed five large, but she only had $3,000 in her account.

Bills calmly started asking the credit union member a few more questions: Have you talked to your daughter? Do you know where your daughter is right now? Can you call your daughter?

She did not embarrass the customer or become confrontational by asking: "Hey, don't you know this is a scam?"

"I had her call her daughter," Bills said.

When the daughter didn't answer the phone, Bills said she asked the woman if anyone else would know where her daughter is right now. The customer reached her son-in-law who said he was with his wife, and no, she wasn't in a car accident.

The credit union member did not lose any money.

We're being bombarded with scammers at every turn — phony texts about problems delivering a package, fake warnings about how crooks are already trying to send money out of your bank account, crooks impersonating the IRS, an onslaught of texts about unpaid tolls, and scammers who frighten you into thinking you must act now or face being arrested or deported.

Online crooks, con artists and fraudsters snagged a staggering $12.5 billion from unwitting consumers in 2024, setting yet another record, according to the latest data from the Federal Trade Commission. That's up from $10 billion in 2023.

Unfortunately, scams can start out fairly innocently. In 2024, consumers reported losing $470 million to scams that began with a text message, according to FTC data. Many times, the messages are connected to a fake package delivery.

More on text scams: How crooks convinced her to put $17,500 into a bitcoin ATM to 'secure' her money

People lost more money per person — a median loss of $1,500 — when they interacted with scammers on the phone, according to the FTC.

The con artists on the other line of that phone call or text often impersonate the local police as well as federal, state and local government agencies.

And crooks catch consumers off guard when they claim to be from the Social Security Administration, Medicare, the U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Trade Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.