Bank impersonations are the top reported type of text message scam. Here are steps to avoid falling victim.
Older adults have lost billions to scam artists who use phones and computers to break, enter and steal. Thefts targeting seniors are big business.If you receive a text message you’re not expecting, be wary — especially if it looks like it might be from your bank.66% of respondents said that they had received a suspicious text from someone they didn’t know, and about 20% clicked on links texted from strangers, which is never advisable.
Major banks were popular choices for scammers to impersonate in 2022, with FTC data showing the most common scam text messages claimed to be from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and Citibank.Just as you shouldn’t click on a link texted to you from someone you don’t know, don’t click on or dial a phone number you receive in a text. Instead, find the official phone number for your bank by going to its website or mobile app.
“Making that phone call can be the difference between getting scammed versus not getting scammed,” said Tremaine Wills, a financial advisor and founder of Mind Over Money, a financial literacy company in Newport News, Va. One particular kind of text scam resulted in a median loss of $3,000 in 2022, according to the FTC: a text from someone impersonating your bank, instructing you to reply with a “Yes” or “No” to confirm or deny a suspicious transaction. Once you replied, the scammer would call you under the guise of helping you. Their ultimate goal was to fraudulently transfer money out of your account or obtain personal information such as a Social Security number.
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