Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office issued the following announcement on Jan 24.
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office received information regarding a scam that is targeting Kalamazoo County Residents.
Scammers are targeting customers/members of banks/credit unions via texts. The text advises that there has been a charge of several hundred dollars against the text recipient’s account at an out of State location through Zelle (a payer-to-payer digital payment network).
The text inquires if the charge is authorized or not. The scammers are utilizing technology to “spoof” their phone number, so it appears to be originating from the recipient’s financial institution. If the recipient responds, “no” they are immediately called.
During the call, the scammers inquire about PIN numbers, account number, and passwords. Once the scammer obtains the information they seek, they begin to empty the targeted person’s account, usually through Zelle transactions.
Please keep in mind that financial institutions, as an industry standard, won’t ever call their customers/members and inquire about account numbers, PIN number, or other security related information. If contacted by someone claiming to be from your financial institution, and you weren’t expecting the call, the safest recourse is to hang up with the caller, find a phone number for your bank or credit union that you locate yourself, and call them directly.
Thank you,
Kalamazoo Criminal Investigations Division Staff
Original source can be found here.
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