Latest scam and dangerous. ALERT

[kelliekat44]

I received a text from Wells Fargo as follows:

"We regret to inform you that your bank account has been cancelled. Please click on the link to update your personal information." The text came with a hyperlink case number and a website link and a Wells Fargo case number.

After my WTF moment. I took the phone across the street to my bank and asked what was going on. I just withdrawn a fairly large sum of money and there was no problem. As soon as i showed the text message to the bank manager she told me that i was the second person to come in within the hour with the same issue. She said to disregard the message and she asked permission to forward the text message to their Internet security group which i ok'd. She told me that she had received a similar text from Chase bank and she knew it was a scam because she had no accounts at Chase.

Evidently the Washington DC area is the latest target for these scammers. It seems to be a rolling text message sent to random cell phones just waiting for someone to bite.

BE AWARE

[Wounded Bear]

1. K & R...for exposure...nt

[marym625]

2. Thanks for this

I have received the same from chase in email.

[MANative]

3. I've received one from Chase and Wells Fargo. We have no accounts with either bank.

These crooks are getting more brazen and invasive by the day.

Had a friend get the "IRS" call last week, and she almost fell for it. She was cautious enough to ask that they send their documentation via the mail, and the scammers hung up.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I received two EMAILS yesterday and I'm in NJ

It's never targeted on just one area.

To bring it to Wells Fargos attention (if you received the email) send it to [e-mail]

That will go directly to their Fraud team.

BTW- I've never banked with Wells Fargo. Not even a line of credit - and it's to an old email I only hold onto because of I dunno . . . it's like 20 years old?

So I've never used it for commerce. They are literally looking for suckers to fall for it.

[mikeysnot]

5. Phone scams are very common

and come in many variants, as a rule I never answer a number I don't recognize, let it go to VM, scammers rarely leave a message.

I always put the number in google and it 100% of the time is a spam number.

If you do answer by accident and a recorded message tells you to press a number, don't, never press any numbers, just hang up.

[Fla Dem]

6. Never respond to emails from "your" bank or financial institution.

I have received the exact same email from multiple banks. Like you I contacted my bank. They told me the same thing, but also told me they would never request information from me via email, always through the US Mail. Unfortunately too many people are duped and do respond.

[Ms. Toad]

7. These schemes are a dime a dozen.

e-safety 101: Never click on any link that wants you to update your personal information.

If you really believe something might have come from your bank, call them using the number on the back of your bank card or navigate directly to their website on your own, preferably using a different computer - but definitely using a different browser.

I have only encountered one bank/credit card company that is so stupid as to use classic phishing schemes with an expectation that you will actually provide real information - so it is safe to assume that if you get a call/text/e-mail out of the blue from your bank, credit card company, IRS, etc. asking for account related information that it is a scam.

(The one I have encountered is a bank with a credit card division which cold calls people when a flag is thrown on the account, and requires you to provide your social security number, and confirm recent transactions and threatens to put a hold on your account if you don't provide the information. I only know it was legitimate because (1) there was a hold on my credit card and (2) I called the number on the back of the card and read them the riot act both about flagging my routine transactions as potentially fraudulent, and then using phishing schemes to "protect" me by shutting off my account when I refused to provide information to a caller out of the blue. No. I'm not still angry about it years later...really I'm not.)

[progressoid]

8. My wife got one last week about our nonexistent B of A account.

[pangaia]

9. This is as old as the hills.

I can not imagine anyone falling for it.
However.... seems some do..

[PasadenaTrudy]

10. I got a text from Chase last week

It was a fraud alert. I called them and sure enough, someone tried to use my cc # to buy stuff online. I now have a new cc!

[Ilsa]

11. Chase has pretty good fraud protection programming, IMO.

It's pretty sophisticated software, which is why we notify them when we travel. They'll alert on attempted purchases outside your normal pattern of behavior or geography. Other than that Visa, I don't bank with them.

[99Forever]

12. Yet another reason to stop doing business with Big Banksters.

I do ALL banking business thru my local credit union. ALL OF IT.

With Big Banksters, if the scams don't rob you the Banksters will.

No thanks.

[padfun]

13. These have been going around for almost 20 years.

Yes some people still fall for it, but nobody should any more.

A bank will never ask for info. They will just tell you to log into your account.

My World of Warcraft account was hacked a few months ago. They tried to blame it on a keylogger on my system. But a total check from multiple antivirus programs and common sense says that it was done on their end. If I did have a keylogger on my system, why did they only take my WOW gold and nothing else, including $25,000 from my real bank account?

[packman]

14. I got a phone call from IRS

stating there was a problem with my last return and to wait until an "agent" got on the other end to discuss it with me. I was tempted to jack around with them, but just hung up.

The bank one is usually one I get as an e-mail and have sent them to the local bank's security department.

Another scam is the UPS tracking scam where a package you sent or was sent to you is lost somewhere and to get in contact with them. Can only imagine what they'll ask for -

[valerief]

15. Those things are as obvious as the Nigerian prince emails. nt

[kelliekat44]

16. May not be obvious to working class folks who from time to time have returned checks.

Some who have bad credit, or owe the government money can be scared into believing these text alerts.

[valerief]

17. Except we working class folks have all been trained, from penis ads to Nigerian prince scams

to Don't-Click-On-Certain-Links emails. Our TV comedians have trained us.