Protect your personal information this National Data Privacy Week
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — If you use the internet, and who doesn't, then you've probably received calls, texts, or emails from bad actors trying to scam you. If you're not careful, you can easily become their next victim.
'Scammers will go to great lengths to make it appear that they are from a legitimate company, be it a bank or some other financial service company,' Bay County Sheriff's Lt. Jeremy Mathis said.
WATCH: Bay County Sheriff's office holds news conference
This week is National Data Privacy Week. With that in mind, Bay County Sheriff's officials are sharing tips to keep you and your banking information safe.
'If you receive a correspondence from your bank or your financial institution and your credit union and it says that your account has been hacked and call this number, call the local number that you talk to. Go into your local branch of your bank and say, hey, I got this. Let them see it. If they say that's a scam, it's a scam. Don't don't do anything else,' Mathis said.
You should also pay attention to the way the scammer communicates with you. If the email address looks generic or doesn't have specific information related to your bank, you should be suspicious.
'Pay attention to the email. You will see that it's a gmail.com or a mail.com or Outlook or some other email address that shouldn't be from the company they're purporting themselves to be from,' Mathis said.
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If you're not sure, don't click on it. You could open a link to a phishing scam. Officials said banking fraud is one of the fastest-growing scams in the country, so you have to act carefully about sharing sensitive banking information and cautiously monitor your accounts.
'You have to be vigilant with your information and vigilant with your credit and keep an eye on it,' Mathis said.
If you think you're being scammed or suspect any suspicious banking activity, call your bank or the Bay County Sheriff's Office. They'll be able to confirm whether or not you're being deceived.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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