This past week, the Attorney General’s Office send out a press release to warn people about a text message scam which has become active recently. The purpose of the text messages is to lure people to provide financial information in response to what appears to be a message from a bank. The message warns of a breach of information and requests the person to “press one” for assistance. They are then directed to someone who asks for sensitive financial information. (or asked to “verify” account information)

Consumers began contacting the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division early last week complaining about calls to their cell phones from persons posing as Wells Fargo employees. Many of the messages came to those who don’t even have Wells Fargo accounts. As the week progressed, the scam morphed to text messages from those posing as representing Bank of America, Chase, Citibank and Capital One.

The Attorney General, Rob Mckenna, warned people to “ignore text messages that look like they’re coming from your bank or credit card,” “Flip over your credit or ATM card and call the number on the back. If there’s a problem with your account, that’s the best way to find out.”

This whole form of stealing is called “phishing.” Scammers have long phished by phone and email. The text scam is a somewhat new variation.