Go to blog home

Protect Yourself From Scams

  • Security
  • October 2021
  • Premier America
The holiday season is here and scam artists are stepping up their deceptive tactics to trick people into providing personal and financial account information. Increasingly, fraudsters are posing as representatives of major retailers such as Amazon or Costco, and presenting information related to previous transactions to gain the trust of their intended victims. Incoming calls with faked phone numbers that appear to be from the actual business make phone scams difficult to detect.

Being cautious of direct calls you receive from any businesses, including Premier America, is the first step in protecting yourself from a potential scam. Here is a current phone scam you need to know about to protect yourself from fraudsters.

With this scam, a fraudster will:

  1. Call claiming that 'due to fraudulent activity on your account, you’re due a refund'.
  2. The caller claims that remote access to your computer is needed to provide a refund and you must log into your bank account so the refund can be processed.
  3. The scammer will then try to convince you that you were refunded too much money and need to buy gift cards or wire money to pay back the overage. Also, the scammer now has access to your accounts and can make unauthorized changes.
You should always be wary of calls reporting suspicious activity that instruct you to press a menu option or call an unfamiliar number. When it comes to protecting your Premier America account:
  • Never provide your password or a secure access code to anyone. A Premier America Representative will never call you directly and request Online Banking log in information or an account number.
  • When calling for assistance, be prepared to answer security questions to verify your identity. If you are unable to pass the initial verification, a one-time, 6-digit secure access code will be provided to you, to verify your identity.
  • Expect a call to confirm a wire transfer. For your protection, a Member Service Representative will contact you within 24 hours to verify wire transfer information.
  • If you receive a call that appears to be from Premier America, pay attention to the information that is being requested. If in doubt, hang up and call Premier America back.
IMPORTANT: Never provide your password or 6-digit secure access code for Online Banking.