Fraudulent text message scams are soaring.
Last year alone, $330 million were reported in losses to the Federal Trade Commission.
New analysis found that bogus bank fraud warnings were the top text message scam reported to the agency. These bank scam texts are up nearly twentyfold since 2019.
Scammers will send messages to try to make the potential victim believe there is suspicious activity or fraud on their bank account.
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The texts are designed to create a sense of urgency – often by asking people to verify a large transaction they did not make.
“People are asked, did you transfer x amount out of your account, for example, respond yes or no and they'll respond no. And then immediately their phone will ring that it will appear on their caller ID. as if the bank is really calling. They'll answer the phone believing that they're speaking to someone from their bank,” said Emma Fletcher, a senior data researcher with the FTC. “And from there they will be walked through a very confusing series of events that end with them transferring money to a scammer, so they end up losing an awful lot of money in many instances because they believe that they're actually resolving this fraud.”
The median loss for these scams last year was $3,000.
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And in some cases, victims reported giving their social security number and other personal information to the scammer.
If you do get a suspicious message about fraud in your bank account, call the bank immediately. Make sure you call the number on your debit card. Verify the number on the bank’s website.
You can also report those scam texts to the FTC by forwarding the message to 7726 or reporting it at Reportfraud.FTC.gov.
Most of the top scams the FTC sees impersonate well-known businesses.
Be on the lookout for these other scams:
- Texts about free gifts, reward or prizes that may look like they came from a company you know.
- Fake package delivery problems --texts that look like they are coming from the USPS, FedEx, or UPS.
- Phony job offers – promises of easy money for mystery shopping at well-known stores like whole foods or Walmart.
- And fake fraud prevention texts that look like they are coming from Amazon that ask you to verify a big-ticket order you didn’t make.
Never click on links or respond to any of these texts.
