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FBI Warns Scammers Are Trying To Steal Paychecks

Posted at 4:41 PM, Sep 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-24 20:02:16-04

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said they're seeing a new trend of cyber scammers trying to trick you into handing over your bank information. 

They said it starts with an email where the thieves pose as someone from a company's human resources department. 

"It looks like it's coming from your company's email asking for specific information," FBI Nashville Assistant Special Agent Matt Espenshade said.

The email usually contains a link directing a person to a site that looks just like a work website. Then, it prompts the person to sign in with a username and password.

"Asking enough to be able to access your online account by which your deposits are directed into bank accounts and then changing those bank accounts so they're getting your deposits instead of you," Espenshade said. 

The FBI said once the money is gone, it's hard to get it back. They said one trick to spot a scam email is to hover over the link and see what the full URL actually is.

"We're trying to get people to be very vigilant about their own accounts and not to fall for the phishing emails," Espenshade said.

The FBI said the scam hasn't hit Middle Tennessee yet, but anyone who receives one of these suspicious emails should contact their human resources department and the FBI. 

You can also report a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center