The Waimea Community Association hosted a meeting earlier this month offering guidance on identifying and avoiding financial scams perpetrated through phone calls, texts and social media.
These scams, some of which have been found to have roots on Hawaii Island, often target kupuna who are less familiar with technology, and have a shared pattern of threatening language and a rushed urgency. The three cybersecurity experts at the Sept. 4 meeting held at the W.M. Keck Observatory said that the scams are particularly harmful in Hawaii because they utilize the trust and kindness inherent in local culture to trick the victims.
“All fraud is based on trust and fear,” said First Hawaiian Bank’s Senior Vice President Joely Chung, who manages the bank’s Enterprise Operational Risk Division. “I’m giving you permission to hang up, shut the computer off, and delete the texts. Don’t click on any links, don’t call any phone numbers, just separate yourself as quickly as possible.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, over 2.6 million reports of fraud nationwide were received in 2024 resulting in a total loss of more than $12.5 billion.
Chung offered the acronym TIPS as a way to identify the red flags of a likely scam in a unsolicited conversation with an unknown person. She said TIPS stands for the presence of THREATS or IMMEDIATE language demanding action now or possibly facing dire consequences, or if the victim is given a PROMISE of something too good to be true or told to keep the interaction SECRET from their family and authorities.
The panelists urged the public to end communication immediately if these red flags are present and begin a new conversation directly with the bank or police. Following the scammer’s instructions to click links, call numbers or share screens can allow the scammer to access the victim’s devices, remotely follow their every keystroke, and even change the victim’s passwords to overtake their accounts.
Panelist Cherise Richards of the U.S. Secret Service is on the Hawaii-Pacific Cyber Fraud Task Force in Honolulu. Richards said the fraud networks she’s investigated have found scammers in Bangkok, where she said cultural sensitivity to curse words has resulted in the scammer ending the call immediately upon hearing vulgar language. She recommended this response — though counter-intuitive and sometimes challenging for demure kupuna — as a way to drive away criminals. Despite the number of networks found in Thailand, Richards also illuminated several scams being traced back to criminals on Hawaii Island.
“Currently, the most prolific counterfeiter in the entire nation is on the Big Island,” Richards said.
Another scam being executed on-island involves criminals selling gift cards from Safeway, Walmart and Target online before returning the compromised card to the rack, leaving victims who buy them to find the card’s balance already spent, she said.
First Hawaiian Bank Chief Information Security Officer Adam Palmer, who leads the bank’s Cybersecurity Division, advised people to educate themselves on self-protection from phishing (phone call scams), smishing (text scams), vishing (voicemail scams) and social media attacks. He recommended Googling #BeCyberSmart guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, #StaySafeOnline advice from the National Cybersecurity Alliance. He said small businesses should visit the Cyber Support Network’s www.fightcrimeonline.org resource.
Palmer also advised people of the American Bankers Association campaign #BanksNeverAskThat, which he said can help victims immediately know when they’re dealing with a scammer impersonating a financial institution. He said victims should visit their local branch in person to ask about any suspicious activity, adding that First Hawaiian Bank customers can also call (808) 844-4444.
“We don’t ask personal questions about your account or for passwords through your phone or through text messaging, or just generally collecting information from you through social media where your attacker might learn things about you through your Facebook account or your LinkedIn account and then try to use those facts to harm you,” Palmer said.
Government impersonation scams where victims are told they are being investigated for crimes and must pay fines or face jail are on the rise in Honolulu, Chung said. Chung said this scam has shown increased instances of face-to-face meet-ups for payment in isolated areas, which elevates the risk for physical harm to the victim.
Investment scams guiding people into fraudulent schemes, romance scams where victims believe they’re helping a long-distance online paramour, and text messages about picking up packages held in Customs — allowing criminals to gain card information from supposed small fees — were also discussed. Rental scams in which fees for ultimately unavailable housing are collected electronically are most common right before college begins, Richards said.
The audience was also told the rushed nature of the scams causes people not to think clearly and thoroughly before acting, and that advanced AI now allows scammers to generate alternate voices and produce conversations.
Technical support scams — often involving the purchase of protection software for a small fee, giving the criminal card details to steal tremendous funds — heavily target kupuna, the panelists advised. Scammers may also be gathering information on the victim’s family through what Richards called a grandparent scam. The scammers gain the names and details of the youngest members of a family through casual conversation with kupuna, which not only gives the criminal clues to passwords and security questions, but also leaves the grandchildren open to scamming.
Chung advised kupuna who get scammed to freeze their accounts and identity, and also lock the identities of younger family members because “on the dark web, an infant’s identity is valued at the highest, because if I steal an 80-year-old identity, I have maybe 10 or 15 years to use that identity,” whereas with infant identities the fraud can continue for a “minimum of 18 years, or however long until they find me, because nobody is doing credit checks on an infants’ social security numbers.”
The panel advised the use of password managers to create random passwords, as well as changing the passwords routinely. The best way to protect oneself from scammers, Chung said, is simply “do not engage.” More information is available at www.fbi.gov/elderfraud.
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
