Text message scam creates concern

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April 17, 2008

By KENNETH HART The Daily Independent Thu Apr 17, 2008, 10:16 PM EDT

ASHLAND — If you have a cell phone, as most people do these days, you may have received a mysterious text message on Monday.

The sender was identified only by an official-looking e-mail address — security@hfsl.com.

The text read: “Your Home Federal account is closed due to unusual activity.” Recipients also were instructed to call a phone number in the 818 area code.

The messages, which apparently were sent out at random to Sprint and Ntelos wireless customers, were part of a common “phishing” scam, the type usually associated with e-mail, authorities said.

Callers to the number in the messages were asked by an automated voice to provide a debit card number. According to the Ashland Police Department, the voice did not ask callers to provide any other verification.

APD Officer Jason Moore said in his report that he spoke to several recipients of the message and none of them were Home Federal customers. He also said he learned the messages most likely were generated on the Internet using a computer program.

Moore said none of the individuals he spoke to had called the number or given out their bank account information.

Home Federal President Darryl Akers said the bank was inundated with phone calls after the messages went out on Monday.

“I would estimate that we had in the neighborhood of at least 200 to 250,” he said.

Of the callers he spoke to, Akers said the majority of them, at least two-thirds, “didn’t happen to be our customers.”

Akers said after the phone calls started coming in, the immediate concern was that there had been a security breach in the institution’s computer system. A thorough check of the system was conducted and nothing was found to be amiss, he said.

Akers also said he had not spoken to anyone who gave out their account information. However, he said he was still concerned about the prospect of any of the bank’s customers being scammed.

Akers said any customer who believes his or her account may have been inadvertently compromised should contact Home Federal.

“There are things we can do to help, and we’re doing it as a free service,” he said.

The bank was able to trace the number used in the scam to North Hollywood, Calif., Akers said. The company that provided the number was contacted and had shut it down by about 11 p.m. Monday, he said.

Home Federal also reported the scam to federal authorities, who launched an investigation, Akers said.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.

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