Yikes! Keep your eyes peeled for this new cellphone text scam that's been circulating. It could drain your entire bank account with no hope of recovering your funds.
The scam is so simple, it can be hard to call BS on. Here's how it works:
Fraudsters will send text messages to your phone spoofing your bank's phone number. They'll request that you call their fraud prevention line to confirm your identity. After making you confirm your bank details, they'll have everything they need to access your funds.
One woman says she had $75,000 stolen from her accounts this week and her bank refuses to correct the issue since it wasn't their error.
"I received the text, but this wasn't unusual as I've had messages from them before," says Claire Pearson, who lost over $75,000 to the scam. "It said there had been suspicious activity on my account, asked "do you recognize this transaction?", if not call this number. I clicked the number and it called through, and the call went on for 30 minutes. The man I spoke to was lovely, we built up a rapport and he said they would send me a new card in three days."
Pearson says her bank has refused to reimburse her so far.
The bank Santander released a statement on the scam saying: "When there has been no Santander error and customers have divulged personal, security information, we cannot accept any responsibility for the losses on the account."
Experts say customers should always rely on the phone number listed on the back of their card on on their bank's website when attempting to contact customer service and not a number from a text message. Banks will also NEVER ask for your password or security codes in full.
Keep these simple warnings in mind, and hopefully you'll be able to avoid this latest scam.