SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Freedom Credit Union said they stopped around $100,000 in fraud activity this past January alone, and they don't expect to see a decrease in scams anytime soon.

"During COVID, we didn't see a ton of fraud happening at that time," said fraud analyst Lisa Pandolfi. "But this gave them time to develop all of the processes of what they were gonna do, develop synthetic identity, identify theft."

Pandolfi said "Grandparent Schemes" remain common across western Massachusetts. It's when scammers call seniors pretending to be grandchildren in distress and hoping to steal bank information.

"They tug at those heart strings and that's what grandparents are known for," Pandolfi said. "Your grandchild is in trouble, they want to try to help them. They get caught up in it and they don't realize what they're actually doing."

Pandolfi also said scammers pretending to be a financial institution remains a tactic.

"Never, ever, give out any personal information over the phone, especially if you did not make the phone call," Pandolfi said. "So, if you're making a phone call,  ou know who you're calling and they ask to verify who you are, you can give out certain information, but never give out your online banking username, or password."

It's not always over the phone either. Freedom Credit Union said criminals will steal information out of the mailbox, and it's happening right here in Massachusetts.  

"We've had multiple thefts where people are stealing the mail out of the mail boxes and what they do is called washing the checks," Pandolphi said. "They will take and put the check into a solution. It removes all the ink from the check and then they'll rewrite the check for a larger dollar amount and then have it deposited at another institution."

Freedom Credit Union expects fraudulent activities to increase throughout the year and advises everyone with a bank account to review a credit report at least once a year to make sure nothing seems off.