Phishing To Your Smart Phone.

[malagabob]

I have like most people had spam phishing to an email account, but in the last 2 weeks I’ve had 2 different txt to my iPhone. One saying , and it actually names my bank that it’s flagged a suspect use for £1250 to Wilko Stores, and as a security it wants me to verify the request by phoning the included number. The second one my debit card had a request for £1850 and to verify it was me by ringing the included phone number. 03333++++++or something like tat. I’ve only received these 2

[maggiebee]

Personally I wouldn't phone either of the numbers given, but rather contact your bank and speak to someone there. They are very aware of these scams.

[Gizmonster]

I wouldn't be too worried by the fact that they've named your bank - it'll just be a coincidence.
I've had these in the past and most of them tell me about accounts with banks that I don't even have an account with.

If/when my bank does contact me, they usually include the last few digits of my account number to verify it's them. However, a scammer could still possibly have access to this information if you've done business with them via a trusted source.

The general rule is, if in any doubt, contact your bank using a trusted method - NEVER click on any links or use any phone numbers sent to you.

[Buenchico]

As you suggest, these are probably phishing attacks but I'd strongly advise that you DON'T ignore them and phone your bank (using a number that you know you can trust) just to check.

That's because I once got a call, purporting to come from Santander, about some suspicious activity on my account. Like you, I strongly suspected that someone was trying to con me but, upon investigation, it turned out that the call was GENUINE. (Someone had made three cash machine withdrawals, totalling £800, from my cash card account. The card wasn't either or credit or debit card, but could only be used in cash machines, and it hadn't been out of my wallet for over a year but that didn't stop someone from nicking my money!)

[malagabob]

Thanks all. I personally went into my bank and showed the first message to a member of staff The person didn’t seem too bothered. Just said just delete it. I also typed out the message word for word and included it to one of the ‘Contact Us” options. Haven’t had a reply.

[ubasses]

This is becoming known as smishing, your bank should have a dedicated text number for you to forward the text to.

[Jackdaw33]

Did you get your money back, Chico?

[Buenchico]

^^^ Yes, surprisingly quickly too thankfully. I was told that I'd have to fill in a lot of paperwork but they never sent it to me. Instead they just sent me bank statements showing the withdrawals and the refund. (Since they'd contacted me, rather than the other round, they obviously knew that some type of fiddle was taking place, so I didn't have to prove that it wasn't me who'd made the withdrawals).

[Alara_Erickson]

You should secure yourself and as soon as possible. They may hack your phone or computer in order to steal your credit card info. So build your privacy as soon as possible.