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Account Deactivated Text: Phone Scam Overview

George

George

16 Dec 2016

In the next decade the consumer spending in the U.S. could become completely cashless, the convenience of paying for everyday items with debit and credit cards has quickly fueled a race towards cashless economies in the U.S. and around the world.Account Deactivated Text Phone Scam

In 2013, 80% of consumer spending in the U.S. was cashless, and the majority of Americans report using less cash today than they did 10 years ago. For this reason, receiving notification that your debit or credit card has been deactivated due to suspicious behavior can make a person panic.

Phone scammers use this tactic to steal valuable account information from individuals, sending them texts stating that their card has been suspended and that they must call a number to get it reactivated

An Alarming Message

Phone scammers will send text messages claiming to be from your bank or credit card company and claim that due to suspicious behavior your card has been frozen. The text will instruct you that in order to reactivate your card you must call the number and talk to a representative. Many people will call the number back and will become unwitting victims of voice phishing scams.

This text scam shares many similarities with the data security breach text scam and email hack via SMS phishing phone scam.

What You Need to Know

Although banks and other financial institutions use technology to communicate with their customers, they will never tell you about an account deactivation via a text message.

Before responding to a text message like this and calling the number that it instructs you to call, look up the number that appears on the back of your card and call that directly to ask for more information. By calling the customer service number that appears on the back of the card you will be able to find out whether or not this is legitimate or a complete scam.

Get the Word Out About the Account Deactivated Text Phone Scam

You should report account deactivated text scams to the bank or credit card company that your card is from and also to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

You can also report the number that texted you and help others in your community avoid this scam by leaving your feedback on the number in CallerSmart's online reverse lookup phone book or in our free phone tracer app for iPhone.

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