Fraud Alerts
! Attention Debit & ATM Card Holders
Customers may receive either a text message or telephone call stating that they need to re-activate their ATM or Debit card, which was closed due to recent fraud activity. We recorded several numbers all from various states, some of which were linked to phone messaging systems and others that were tied back to unsuspecting legitimate businesses.
This sort of activity which is referred to as “Vishing” is a form of social engineering over the phone system and or cellular phone using text messaging in order to manipulate the customer to gain access to private personal and financial information. The process is explained below.
- The fraudster configures a phone dialer to call phone numbers in a given region or accesses a legitimate voice messaging company with a list of phone numbers stolen from a financial institution.
- When the customer answers the call, an automated recording, often generated with a text to speech synthesizer, is played to alert the consumer that their credit card has had fraudulent activity or that their bank account has had unusual activity. The message instructs the consumer to call the following phone number immediately. The same phone number is often shown in the spoofed caller ID and given the same name as the financial company they are pretending to represent.
- When the customer calls the number, it is answered by automated instructions to enter their credit card number or bank account number on the key pad.
- Once the consumer enters their credit card number or bank account number, the visher has the information necessary to make fraudulent use of the card or to access the account.
- The call is often used to harvest additional details such as security PIN, expiration date, date of birth, etc.