With holiday shopping season heading into the home stretch, it’s prime time for ID thieves. Which is why some people might fall prey to scammers who text cell phone users with alerts that their debit cards have been locked.
CBS Chicago reports on a rash of these bogus texts claiming to be from Chase and Fifth Third banks, telling people that their cards have been locked and to call hijacked number to resolve the issue.
Of course, if you actually call that number, you’re likely to end up providing a scammer with the information required to raid your bank account or steal your identity.
Instead, you should contact your bank if you’re concerned. Of course, most of the people getting these message don’t even have accounts at the bank named in the text, so they have nothing to worry about.
Most banks that offer e-mail and text alerts have very specific identifiers on those alerts to help differentiate them from fakes. But in general, never give out your information to someone who contacts you. Instead, call the number on the back of your card to make sure you’re speaking to an actual bank employee.
‘Locked Debit Card’ Text Alerts Are Fake [CBSlocal.com]
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Consumerist.