Local man shares how a scammer stole $4K from his bank account

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A New Mexico man says scammers posing as his bank took $4,000 after a Halloween night call and repeated requests for verification codes.

James Anderson said the call came on Halloween night from someone claiming to be with First Financial Credit Union’s fraud department.

The caller warned him about four suspicious $1,000 transactions, and Anderson said he believed the call came from his bank.

“I thought it for sure was my bank, but it wasn’t,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he stayed on the phone for about an hour while the scammer tried to sort out several fraudulent transactions.

The scammer sent text messages and asked Anderson for verification codes and his account password, he said.

“But yeah, they took first charge was a thousand, second charge was a thousand, third charge was a thousand. And the fourth charge was a thousand. So a total of $4,000 they scammed me out of,” Anderson said.

What are the warning signs?

After Anderson grew suspicious, he went to his bank and got another call from the scammer while he was there.

Anderson said a credit union employee asked the caller for a full name and employee information.

“I said, ‘Give her your information.’ He hung up the phone. That was the last I’ve heard from him since,” Anderson said.

Banking experts said banks will never ask customers for information they should already have.

“If they’re asking you to put details about your account, whether it’s a card or your personal account, that’s an indicator that there’s probably some fraud behind it,” Paul Mondragón said. (How To Avoid a Scam | Consumer Advice)

“Another thing to look out for is if they’re asking you to pay via some odd method,” Mondragón said.

Paul Mondragón, Bank of America New Mexico market president, said people should also closely check how an email address or URL is spelled.

“So always double check the e-mail or the URL. Make sure there’s not something funky in there or they’ve changed, say, one for an I or vice versa, whoever your financial institution is, you want to always double check, make sure it’s reading correctly,” Mondragón said.

Anderson filed a police report, and he said his bank told him he may be able to get the money back in a few days.

According to the Federal Trade Commission(Fraud Reports | Tableau Public), New Mexico has logged more than 6,000 fraud reports so far in 2026 with more than $35 million in total losses.

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