Social media is a popular way to stay connected with friends and family. It also presents abundant opportunities for scammers to use deceptive lies against potentially gullible targets.
In one social media scam, a scammer pretends to be from a financial institution the target belongs to. As a thank you for being a valuable member, or other seemingly practical reason, the representative offers the target cash, a prize, or other reward. To accept the offer, all the target has to do it provide his or her account information. Once this information is in hand, the representative promises to transfer or send the reward to the target.
The only reward the victim will receive from this scam is a drained bank account.
Never provide financial account information to a cold call, cold text, or cold contact on social media. You have no idea who that person really is, and he or she is more likely to have evil than benevolent intent.
Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch. You pay for everything in some form or fashion at some point in time. If a person offers you something for free, watch out. It might cost you far more that the reward being offered.