{"id":2498,"date":"2011-10-10T13:18:15","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T21:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/?p=2498"},"modified":"2011-10-10T13:18:15","modified_gmt":"2011-10-10T21:18:15","slug":"washington-attorney-general-consumer-alert-don%e2%80%99t-get-%e2%80%9csmished%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/2011\/10\/10\/washington-attorney-general-consumer-alert-don%e2%80%99t-get-%e2%80%9csmished%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Attorney General Consumer alert: don\u2019t get \u201csmished\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2013<\/strong> Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna today warned consumers about a text-message trap to capture financial information and drain credit card and bank accounts. Such text message scams are called \u201csmishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t wish to be smished, ignore text messages that look like they\u2019re coming from your bank or credit card,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cFlip over your credit or ATM card and call the number on the back. If there\u2019s a problem with your account, that\u2019s the best way to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumers began contacting the Attorney General\u2019s Consumer Protection Division early this week complaining about calls to their cell phones from those posing as Wells Fargo employees. An automated voice suggested that the customer\u2019s account has been breached and directed them to \u201cpress one\u201d for assistance. They were then connected to a person who asks for sensitive account information.<\/p>\n

Many of the calls came to those who don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhishing\u201d scams trick consumers into turning over account numbers, PINs, credit card security codes, usernames, passwords and other sensitive information. \u201cSmishing\u201d is a similar scam launched over SMS (Short Message Service) messages \u2013 better known as text messages.<\/p>\n

Scammers have long phished by phone and email. The text scam is a somewhat new variation. The Attorney General\u2019s Office recommends that consumers never respond to any message requesting account or personal information. Instead, contact the institution using a phone number from a statement or from your bank or credit card company\u2019s official Web site.<\/p>\n

Phishing and smishing are criminal acts that the state Attorney General\u2019s Office lacks authority to investigate. Consumers contacted by such scammers should file a complaint with the FTC: http:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/ftc\/contact.shtm<\/a>. Federal law enforcement monitors complaints filed through the FTC.<\/p>\n

Consumers concerned they may have revealed sensitive information in a phishing or smishing scam should contact their bank or credit card company, if applicable, and monitor their bank statements, credit card bills and credit reports to watch for suspicious activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2013 Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna today warned consumers about a text-message trap to capture financial information and drain credit card and bank accounts. Such text message scams are called \u201csmishing.\u201d \u201cIf you don\u2019t wish to be smished, ignore text messages that look like they\u2019re coming from your bank or credit card,\u201d McKenna […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-prevention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2499,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2498\/revisions\/2499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.gonzaga.edu\/campo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}