The Financial Crime Unit (FCU) has received several reports this week regarding a troubling rise in fraudulent activity targeting both local businesses and members of the public—particularly customers of financial institutions (Banks).

In these incidents, individuals impersonating agents of local banks (from the Fraud Department) are contacting customers and falsely claiming that fraudulent activity has been detected on their accounts.

The fraudsters then request login credentials to "resolve" the issue. Once they gain access to the accounts, they quickly transfer funds to overseas locations.

So far, complaints from this week alone have revealed that local residents have collectively lost over 1.2 million dollars due to this scam.

As we enter the festive season, a time historically associated with increased fraud activity, the Bermuda Police Service (BPS) urges residents to remain vigilant and note the following to protect against falling victim to these types of scams:

1. Bank representatives will never ask you over the phone for your personal account login credentials.

2. If you are uncertain about the legitimacy of a call, hang up immediately and contact your bank directly by phone or in person.

3. Do not download or install any third-party software at the request of someone claiming to be a bank representative.

4. If you receive an email claiming to be from your bank, you should check the email header to see if it matches the details of legitimate emails you've received from your bank before.

The BPS is also aware that persons are receiving WhatsApp messages from friends in their phone contacts list, asking them to send money to a disclosed location. However once contacted the person supposedly making the request confirms they did not send any such message.

We urge residents to please be vigilant of this and if in doubt or, if something seems strange about the request, do not send money.