WGBA -You Ask. We Investigate: ATM Card Text Scam
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Scammers will use email, phone calls, and now text messages to get your personal information. And if you fall for this ATM text message, scammers could create their own ATM card and empty out your bank account.
Scammers are counting on you to give them all the information they need, so they can go to any ATM and empty your bank account. Margaret Heimerl says, "I have no idea how they got my number." Scammers got Margaret Heimerl's phone number, but not her account information. Heimerl got a text message yesterday that her ATM card was suspended. It gave her a toll-free number to call to reactive it. When she called an automated line asked her to punch in her card number. The expiration date, date of birth and pin number. Heimerl was smarter than the scammer and hung up! Margaret Heimerl says, "I figured I would let people know what is happening."
NBC26 went to the Wisconsin's Consumer Protection office in Green Bay. We were told people actually fall for a scam like this every day. Ed Walker/Consumer Protection says, "It's very little work for them to send out that kind of a text to so many people."
If scammers provide a number, like in this text why can't you trace the number and catch the scammer? Ed Walker/Consumer Protection says, "Now it's possible for anyone, whether they are a company or individual to go in and rent an 800 number for a certain amount of time." And by the time authorities catch on to their scheme scammers just rent a new number and continue to phish for your personal information.
If you do fall for a scam first call your financial institution to alert them, then file an identity theft complaint with the police. We tried calling the number in the text message this afternoon, now all you get is a busy signal.
