Scam artists sent out texts saying a local bank has deactivated their bank accounts
NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- Scam artists targeted Northern Michigan Monday night, sending out a mass text, posing as a local bank, and trying to rip people off.
We talked with victims, and police, to see how it worked.
Police we talked to said welcome to the technological age of scam. It's unclear how many people received a text message Monday night saying their account had been deactivated. It looked legit, and people could have fallen for it."
Christie Bond got the text at 10 last night. It was an out-of-state number, saying to call a 231 number, because their Bank of Northern Michigan card had been deactivated. The only problem is the Bond’s they don't use that bank.
"The scary thing was they texted a local person, with a local bank name, and a local phone number to call back, so I could see where somebody could have tripped up by that very easily," said Christie Bond.
Right away, Christie and her husband Dana smelled a scam. They researched the number and it was a local Frankfurt, Michigan landline. I called the number, hoping to make the scammers believe they were going to rip me off.
“The number you have dialed is not in service, please check the number and try again," said the phone recording.
"They’re already done, they've packed up," said Dana Bond.
This didn't surprise police. Petoskey Public Safety Detective David Schultz explained how it works. The thieves buy a set of phone numbers for a couple pennies a piece and then send a mass text. They can use technology, called number spoofing, to make it appear it's all local. Their goal is to get a victim to give up personal financial information.
“Even if they get two to fall for it, that's the two that they've gotten, and they're going to move on to the next bunch," said Detective Schultz.
“So they send out these text messages last night at 10-o-clock, and in two hours, they either get hits or they don't?" I asked.
"Correct, and they're moving on to their next scam," he said.
And that's enough for the Bond's to want to get the word out.
And as technology continues to evolve, police don't see these scam artists going away. They say that doing your diligence before you respond will keep you safe.
