14 DAY TRIAL // The latest threat seems to spread in the US like a forest fire, Montana authorities issuing an official warning to alert citizens to be on the lookout for any attempts that might target their virtual assets.
According to Helenair, the Montana AG's office and the Division of Banking and Financial Institutions want to make sure people are properly informed on the latest attempts that hit the state.
Smishing is not actually new, but the number of recorded attempts has increased lately, raising concerns from US authorities.
In these schemes the victims are called or contacted via SMSs and asked to provide credentials or personal data. In most cases the caller will pretend to represent a financial institution or a state authority, demanding the information and launching threats about canceled accounts and such.
“Scammers and identity thieves will attempt to gain your personal information in any way possible,” revealed Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock. “In this digital age, where almost everyone has a cellphone, this new text message scam is just another way to lure you into their trap. Knowing about it beforehand will help protect consumers from falling victim to this threat.”
Before jumping to provide the crooks with the data they require, people are advised to verify the legitimacy of the call by directly contacting the bank or the organization involved.
If you suspect that the call is genuine and you don't want to upset the person that's on the other end of the line, you could politely ask for a phone number with the promise that you'll call them back. Meanwhile you can check out to see if the request is real or not.
If you are asked to provide things such as PIN number, account number or any information that's related to your credit card, you can be sure that someone's attempting to take your savings as banks never claim such info.