Attorney General William Sorrell, together with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation and Merchants Bank, is warning consumers of a resurgence of fraudulent text messages and telephone calls to consumer mobile phone numbers claiming to come from their bank, in this most recent case Merchants Bank, and indicating that the consumerâ s debit card has been compromised. These calls are scams and do not originate from the bank.
These scam calls and text messages direct consumers to call or text debit card or account numbers and information to â confirm’the account. The calls are â phishing’scams, attempts to steal consumer account information by posing as the bank and scaring consumers into providing sensitive account information. The messages are typically some variation of the following:
"This is an official notification from Merchants Bank, informing you that your Mastercard (or VISA) needs to be updated for security reasons. To begin the update process, please press "1" now."
Vermont AG May 21, 2012
Vermont AG, Department of Financial Regulation, Merchants Bank warn consumers of telephone scam
Submitted by tim
on