Will U Let Me Steal Ur Bank Info?
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No, your bank won't send you a text message to ask you to reactivate a bank card.
Phishing schemes have jumped from your e-mail inbox to your cell phone.
Experts have long warned of e-mails that ask people to click on a link and enter their banking or credit card information.
But because more people use their mobile phone to conduct business, people may not be immediately suspicious of the same pitches that come via text message.
Frisco resident Amy Boyd said she was instantly suspicious of a text message about debit card problems. The message, the second she'd received in a couple of days, said her card was deactivated and provided a phone number to call to reactive it.
"When I first got it, it surprised me, because it came to my cell phone, which, normally, when my bank calls me, they call me at home," she said. "And it was from a credit union, which I bank a credit union, and it gave a credit card number in the message."
But the number wasn't her credit card number, so Boyd ignored the message.
Lisa Jackson, of Plano, and her husband also got the text message. Jackson called the number to see what would happen.
"When I called the number, I received an automated message that asked me to enter my Social Security number, my bank card and my security code," she said.
The messages claim to be from Resource One Credit Union. But the credit union said it "does not send e-mails or text messages asking for personal information, account numbers or pins."
The credit union's Web sites says people who receive such suspicious messages should call 214-319-3100 to report it.
Smaller financial institutions such as Resource One have been the focus of many recent text message schemes, perhaps because customers tend to have higher levels of trust with local banks, according to a security report by Cisco.
The report said a similar scheme in New York and Pennsylvania used customers' personal information to recreate debit cards and withdraw cash from ATMs.
