LANSING, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Attorney General Dana Nessel is warning Michigan citizens to beware of fraudulent bank alerts following “an uptick in increasingly sophisticated scams.”
A new scam circulating in Michigan starts with a phone text, appearing to come from a bank, alerting the receiver to what could be the fraudulent use of a his or her debit card.
Nessel says the alert appears to be real, providing the following sample as an example:
“FREE TEXT from Fifth Third Bank #2579 To continue using your card, please verify this transaction: 02/05 – Gucci Merchant $1632.00. Press Y for Yes or N for No.”
The text or email alert is then followed by a phone call, which appears to be coming from the bank’s 1-800 customer service number. When asked to confirm the legitimacy of the call, the caller makes the following statement:
“Check on the back of your card and you will see that I am calling from the customer service number listed there.”
Nessel says this is true because they have “spoofed” the customer service number, making it appear as if that is the number from which they are calling.
The caller is said to be “very professional,” commits to ensuring the fraudulent charges are dropped, but will then attempt to confirm the cardholder’s PIN number.
This type of phone scam is not the only one circulating in Michigan. In another scam, the text message is a “ChaseBank notice” warning that “your debit card is temporary locked” (misspelling temporarily), with instruction to call a stated number “for support.”
“Do NOT fall for these scams,” Nessel said in a statement. “These criminals are increasingly clever and conniving and have found yet another way to cheat honest Michigan residents out of their hard-earned money.”
Nessel urges every Michigan resident who gets an email, text or call that is supposedly from their bank to hang up and call the customer service number on the back of their debit card. That is the only way to verify the call.
In some cases, email fraud alerts are easier to spot because the sender’s email address doesn’t match up with the bank’s address. Most customers, however, do not take the time to verify the sender’s address.
“The bottom line is this: Don’t give a single piece of personal information – your birth date, the last four digits of your Social Security number, your PIN number – to anyone who calls,” Nessel said. “Hang up and call back on a number you know you can verify.”
Additional resources about scams, spoofing, and more are available at the following links:
- Caller ID Spoofing
- Text Message Scams: Smishing
- Hijacking Your Text, Email, and Instant Messages: A New Angle on “Phishing” Scams
Complaints of scams can be filed online at this link, or by calling the Michigan Department of Attorney General at 877-765-8388.
