HOWELL — Sprint/Nextel users and Wachovia account holders beware — a text message scam targeting customers of the cell phone service provider and the national bank has been affecting local residents.
Within the past week, three residents of Howell reported receiving a text message that attempts to con Sprint/Nextel telecommunications customers into giving up their bank card numbers, according to Howell Police Department Detective Nancy Carroll.
The text message, which is sent with the subject line “Wachovia Alert,” states that the customer’s bank cards have been deactivated and directs them to call a number for reactivation. When they call, an automated message asks them to enter their 16-digit card number and to change their personal identification number (PIN).
No Howell residents have reported that their bank card numbers have been compromised, Carroll said.
The scam, which first surfaced on Jan. 14, is part of a larger fraud affecting residents throughout New Jersey and customers in other parts of the county as well.
“This is a far-reaching generic text scam,” said Sgt. Cindy Boyd, who is investigating the issue on behalf of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. “And with this type of technology, they are anonymous criminals.”
Boyd said text message cons, though a fairly new form of fraud, are cyclical — similar scams occurred in 2008 and in October 2009. Authorities believe the current scam began in North Carolina on Jan. 14, allegedly in order to take advantage of bank closings on Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Jan. 18), Boyd said.
“This goes through a cycle. There is a period where they lay low and wait for their opportunity,” she said. “This could be the same crew or they could be copycat con artists.”
Boyd said several residents in the Ocean County municipalities of Manchester Township and Toms River have received the text messages as well, and she said some people have been financially victimized by the scam.
Authorities, however, are looking into the issue and researching a possible source. Boyd surmised that money is probably routed into a generic account and the source numbers may be coming from out of the country.
“They can spoof phone numbers, and when spoofing, we’re creeping through wires. It gets very technical. These people have learned to manipulate technology,” she said, noting that there are a host of numbers that the scammers are using, including New York and New Jersey area code numbers 732, 646 and 212.
According to Boyd, these ever-changing numbers are sending mass text messages out to more than 600 Sprint/Nextel customers at a time, hoping that a percentage of them have Wachovia accounts as well. She said it has been reported that more than 100 bank accounts have been hacked.
Sprint/Nextel representative Matthew Sullivan said the company is working on troubleshooting the issue.
“Our fraud team is working to fix this. Fraudsters are constantly trying to tweak the scam in order to stay one step ahead of the carriers, but our team is addressing this as we speak,” Sullivan said, noting there are no signs of network compromise or breach in confidential information.
He said the company is addressing the scam from an enforcement and technical standpoint. Sprint/Nextel is working to find the perpetrators and subsequently take legal action, as well as to make network adjustments and block the numbers the con artists are using.
“There are multiple parties doing this type of thing. So the steps we are taking, it’s kind of like Whack-a-Mole,” Sullivan said, referring to a game in which players have to stop one problem while additional problems crop up. “But we are very aware of it, and hopefully we can resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Sullivan said the time it takes to deactivate fraud varies, and that it could be a matter of hours, days or even weeks before the problem is resolved.
Fran Durst, a representative from Wachovia, said the bank is also aware of the scam.
“It’s a scary thing. We would never ask for information in that format,” Durst said. “What we are telling people is that Wachovia would never contact you like that and if a party claiming to be the bank does [contact you], then it’s a scam.”
Durst said the bank card numbers that have been affected are credit card accounts within Wachovia. She said the bank provides credit card protection and would compensate customers if their debit account had been affected.
“With those that have been victimized, we will do our best to make them whole again,” she said.
Durst said customers should forward all suspicious emails and text messages to reportphish@ wellsfargo.com for Wells Fargo customers and [email protected] for Wachovia customers. She also said that victims should report the incident to the company at 1-888-647-3648.
Boyd said the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office will continue to investigate the scam, but noted that if residents receive any suspicious text messages, emails or phone calls, to notify her at 732-929-2027, ext. 3025.