Cell phone scammers seek bank information

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has warned Maryland residents to be on the lookout for new scams that are using cell phones to obtain sensitive personal bank information.

There have there been many reports of scammers calling cell phones, according to the attorney general's office, and culprits also have started to send text messages that appear to be from a bank or other financial institution, similar to "phishing" e-mails. The text messages appear to be from a bank and ask the recipient to call a toll-free number to resolve a conflict with their account.

The number is often an automated message service that asks the potential victim to input bank account numbers or other sensitive personal information.

Gansler (D) urged that anyone who receives an unsolicited call, text message or e-mail should not give out any personal information. People should never give out sensitive personal information unless they initiate the contact with a financial institution, and are certain that they can trust the person on the other end of the phone.

Most financial institutions will not contact their customers by text message, or ask for personal information through an e-mail.

Suspicious communications can be reported to the identity theft unit of the Office of the Attorney General online at idtheft@oag.state.md.us, or by telephone at 410-576-6491.