A text or email warns of suspicious activity on your bank account. It looks legitimate, and the urge to click can be immediate. But that message could be coming from a scammer not your bank.

The American Bankers Associations Banks Never Ask That campaign aims to help consumers recognize those traps as criminals use increasingly convincing texts, emails, websites and even artificial intelligence to impersonate trusted companies.

See the full story from Alicia Smith in the video below Bank scam warning signs

It really is a big issue, said Paul Benda, Executive Vice President for Risk, Fraud and Cybersecurity at the American Bankers Association.

Consumers describe suspicious messages and links

Asked whether he receives texts claiming to be from his bank, Detroit resident Brandon Jackson said, Most of the time I ignore them.

Domenique Wood, who was visiting metro Detroit from New Jersey, said she has accidentally clicked suspicious links. Yeah, literally, all the time [including] at work sometimes which is really bad, she said with a laugh.

Gautam Bogg, visiting from Philadelphia, said the prevalence of scam attempts did not surprise him. Maybe not so surprised because theyve probably gotten smarter over the past couple of years, Bogg said.

AI makes impersonation harder to spot

Benda said consumers cannot rely only on familiar warning signs such as strange wording or typos. Criminals are using AI to make fraudulent websites and emails resemble communications from banks and other trusted companies. He added that they also use deepfakes to imitate someones voice or face.

The criminals are leveraging AI just like we are. And so, they've gotten much more advanced, Benda explained.

Benda pointed to a joint study by Gallup and the Stop Scams Alliance on 2025 financial scams. He said the study estimated that scammers stole $68 billion from Americans roughly $186 million a day affecting about 15 million U.S. adults. He said the findings also showed that 12% of successful scams in 2025 involved artificial intelligence or deepfakes.

Where to learn the warning signs

The American Bankers Association recently updated its Banks Never Ask That campaign with scam tactics and resources to help consumers protect their financial information. The website covers five major categories:

Email scams Text scams Phone scams AI and deepfake scams Payment app scams

Consumers can take the sites Scam Slayer Quiz to test their ability to recognize suspicious messages. The site also offers guidance on scam warning signs and strengthening an online bank account, along with reminders to hang up, delete suspicious messages and block scam contacts. Resources are also available to educate people about check fraud.

Learn more at BanksNeverAskThat.com.