Text messages bring new alerts
By Laura Hand
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 6:38 p.m.
Read more: Local, State, Economy, Crime
A text message sent to hundreds in this area has prompted renewed warnings about messages aimed at taking your personal information--or money.
On Saturday, Action News received lots of calls from area residents who'd gotten 'blocked account' warnings from Bank of America. The bank tells us the messages were 'potentially fraudulent, and advised that they could be deleted, or forwarded to abuse@bankofamerica.com.
Here in Syracuse, the Assistant Attorney General who deals with consumer fraud, Juanita Williams, says the content of the message is nothing new, but the fact that it's on a new medium--texting--is. Williams says the same guidelines as for phone, email or mailed messages apply: don't give information out unless you've initiated the call, or you may be scammed. She says scammers will aim for a whole block of phone numbers, which explains why people who don't even have accounts get messages--they're hoping for hits that will give them money, or personal information that they can turn into money.
As we were doing today's story, we got other 'alerts'--from 'banks', and from other viewers who've also been solicited by other companies. Williams says banks cannot warn in advance, because they often don't know the activity is happening. Her advice: take a step back and make a phone call to ensure everything is in order, before offering your personal information.
