Today around 10AM I received a text message which said “HELLO, VERY IMPORTANT Delivered-by Bank OF America..Call our office 4127951030. 5-MINUTES REQUIRED.”
Then I got a second message about 5 min later which said “IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED. Delivered byBank OF America.. Call our office 4127951030. VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE”
Being of a suspicious nature (perhaps also due to the fact that Bank of America doe s not have my cell phone number) I first looked up the area code (Area code 412 is a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania telephone area code which serves Pittsburgh, most of surrounding Allegheny County and small portions of Washington and Westmoreland counties.) Then I looked up the Bank of America number on the Internet and called them. Surprise – They had no knowledge of any message sent me, by text or any other form.
Bottom line – This was obviously a SCAM. I never called the number, but if I had I might have found myself rerouted to a very expensive overseas line where I probably would be put on hold and charged some phenomenal amount for the long distance call. — Always look up a number or web site yourself. Never click on links embedded in messages, without confirming them with the supposed sender. Don’t call unknown phone numbers Be safe.
This was a VERY timely message! I read this blog and not two hours later I received a text message from a strange number stating they were from Bank of America and they needed immediate response regarding my account. Since I do not have a Bank of America account, AND, due to this blog, I immediately deleted the text message without opening. Thank you for the heads up!