From automating bills to getting a loan, nearly every task in your online banking life can be managed via a few swipes on your smartphone screen. With that speed and convenience, why would anyone visit a branch if they didn’t have to?
“While some transactions make sense to handle online, I would recommend people always handle wire transfers and large cash transfers in person at a bank or credit union branch,” said Kimberlie McGee, head teller at Addition Financial, a credit union in Lake Mary Florida. “Fraudulent activity is on the rise when it comes to wires and other activity such as large cash transfers.”
Organizations like the Federal Trade Commission confirm that online predators are targeting wire transfers and large bank transfers with greater skill and frequency, and your local branch might be the safest place to conduct both kinds of transactions.
Here are two types of money transfers you should do in person instead.
Wire Transactions Are Usually Irreversible — and Prime Targets for Fraudsters
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “Scammers pressure you to wire money to them because it’s easy to take your money and disappear. Wiring money with services like MoneyGram, Ria, and Western Union is like sending cash — once you send it, you usually can’t get it back. Never wire money to anyone you haven’t met in person — no matter the reason they give.”
McGee agrees.
“It is important to know who you’re sending the funds to and what reason you’re sending it,” she said.
The FTC outlined the most common wire transfer scams:
- Utility scam: A scammer purporting to be a utility provider says your gas or electricity will be shut off immediately if you don’t wire cash right away.
- Romance scams: Romance scammers start by tugging at your heartstrings to tug at your bank account. They connect with their victims through dating sites or social media platforms, gain the victim’s trust and eventually ask them to wire money right away to help them cope with a fake emergency or illness.
- Prize scams: Good news! You’ve won a sweepstakes, lottery or other monetary prize, but there’s a catch — you have to wire money to pay for handling, shipping or taxes. In this scam, the victim sends an irreversible wire transfer only to quickly realize that there is no prize and they’ve been had.
- Family emergency scams: A criminal purporting to be a family member in crisis emails — or even uses AI to call with a startlingly realistic voice clone — with a plea for an immediate wire transfer to spring them from a foreign prison or some other pressing fabricated emergency.
- Fake check scam: The scammer sends a check with a request for the recipient to deposit it and immediately wire some of the amount back to them to cover fees, taxes or some other imaginary expense. Sometimes they say the check is winning from a prize the victim won, an advance for a job they landed or a refund for an overpayment. No matter the setup, the result is always the same — the check bounces and the victim is out the money they wired.
Stay Safe and Visit a Branch — Even if Your Bank Doesn’t Require It
A Redditor in the r/banking subreddit recently asked, “My bank requires me to be physically present in person to send a wire. Is this normal?”
Citizens Bank confirms that in some cases, it’s perfectly normal. For example, banks might require customers to visit a branch for special cases like international transfers, but McGee thinks in-person wire transfers are always best no matter your financial institution’s internal policy.
“Tellers in a branch can spot red flags in a potentially fraudulent transaction,” she said.
Visit a Branch To Conduct Large Cash Transfers
People sometimes use “cash transfer” interchangeably with “wire transfer,” but the two processes are different despite their similarities and identical outcomes.
Both kinds of transfers move money between accounts without the transport of physical cash and both result in a debit from one account and a credit to another.
Western Union says the difference is that wire transfers are electronic funds transfers, or EFTs, that are transmitted directly between banks. Conversely, cash transfers, or bank transfers, rely on the automated clearing house, also known as ACH, a third-party network that serves as a facilitator.
Like wire transfer fraud, instances of criminals targeting online ACH transfers “is on an exponential rise,” according to River City Bank.
Naturally, the most common targets are usually the biggest transfers.
The bank outlines common-sense steps to keep yourself safe online, but the best protection, according to McGee, is to conduct large cash transfers the same way prudent customers send wire transfers — “in person at a bank or credit union branch,” she said.
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