Just a word of warning, never trust a text message about your bank account as being authentic.
Two of us here at StarterTech have gotten the following text message this week from “9099″:
customer issue, us bank service frozen. please call at 802 221 1115
Both of us have accounts with this chain, but Rosemary, who was the first to get the message, called the local branch directly and confirmed there were no issues with her account. We were suspicious of the message from the start for the main reason she has never given the bank her cell phone number. Also upon talking to the bank, they were confused by the verbiage as it didn’t sound like anything the bank uses.
Today when I got the text, I used a Skype account to call the listed phone number so it would show up as unknown on caller ID. I got a message about the mailbox being full, and that was it.
As with scam emails, pay attention to the style of the text.
- Notice there are no capital letters
- Improper use of grammar
- No personalization
This is a classic “phishing” attack, and it is just the type that throws a wide net. We have received similar texts about other banks we don’t even have accounts with, but they know they will hit people who do have accounts with them.
Always be wary of this type of communications.
