This article is being reprinted because it had problems and was not readable last week.
(This article is repeated because it appeared on the Gazette website in an unreadable form last week.)
The Better Business Bureau of Eastern North Carolina is warning consumers of a text message scam that impersonates different banks, including Wachovia, to gain access to consumers’ bank accounts.
The scam is known as “smishing” and is the text message version of phishing e-mails, which try to steal personal information from unsuspecting consumers.
The following text message has been received by Wachovia patrons and the general public across the nation: “Wachovia alert – your card starting with 4828 has been deactivated. Please contact us at 804-715-9368 to reactivate your card.”
While similar text message scams have become prevalent in Eastern North Carolina within the past year, this particular scam seeks to gain consumers’ trust by claiming to know the first four digits of their bank card, when in fact many Wachovia Visa debit cards start with 4828.
Consumers also informed BBB that a second text message has been received within the past two weeks, stating: “Customer issue – Wachovia service frozen please call at 206-905-7795.”
In 2009 consumers notified BBB of a similar text message and e-mail scams that posed as the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union and the Bank of America. In the case of all three scams, if consumers called the number in the text or e-mail they would presumably be asked for personal banking information, which would later be used to steal money from their account.
BBB offers the following advice to help consumers avoid text message and phishing scams:
-- Beware of text messages or phone calls that request personal information.
-- If you do not know who is making the request, delete the message or hang up.
-- Never give out personal information, such as your Social Security number, bank account numbers or credit card numbers, to anyone you do not know.
-- Banks will never ask for personal account information by text message or e-mail.
-- If you receive requests for personal information by telephone or e-mail, call your financial institution to verify that the request is valid.