The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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August 11, 2008

Some bank customers get ‘smished’'

By Cass Rains, Staff Writer

A few Central National Bank customers may have been fooled by a new twist on an old scam, called “smishing,” to obtain sensitive financial information.

Enid Police Department officials reported being “flooded” with calls over the past few days from people who received cellular phone text messages stating their Central National Bank account had been frozen.

The message received read: “Your Central National Bank of Enid account has been blocked for security reason. Please call us at (866) 281-9288.”

EPD Capt. Dean Grassino said the unsolicited messenger is seeking sensitive financial information from individuals, such as account information, personal identification numbers, passwords and Social Security numbers.

“This is a total scam,” he said. “It’s a practice called ‘smishing.’”

Grassino said the scam is a text message version of e-mail scams called “phishing.” He said another practice, called “vishing,” uses automatic dialers to send out recorded phone messages in the hope of hitting the targeted bank’s customers. The messages direct customers to a bogus Web site or asked them to key in account information to confirm their identity.

CNB President and CEO R.S. Baker said people had contacted the bank to report the scam, which occurred Friday and Saturday.

He said customers and non-customers received the messages and some bank members fell prey to the scam.

“Your bank will never contact you to ask for account numbers, card numbers or PIN numbers. We have that information and have it safely secured,” Baker said. “Although this is not a new scam, apparently because it involved text messaging, some individuals did give out their confidential information.”

He said anyone who gave out any information should contact the bank immediately so the bank can be alerted to fraud possibilities.

“We want to warn and remind the public you should never, ever provide your personal information to anyone whom you did not personally initiate the call in the first place,” Grassino said.

Baker said CNB’s systems are secure and have never been compromised.

He said the PULSE card network, which alerts banks to possible fraud attempts, issued an alert July 31 when areas in Texas and Oregon were targeted by a telephone scam seeking bank information.

Oklahoma Bankers Association reported calls two weeks ago to markets that included banks named First National Bank. The calls involve numbers issued by a Telecom company in Canada.

“As we are advised of additional numbers, we attempt to contact the fraud division of each telecom company in an effort to identify the origination of the number of the numbers and shut down the criminal activity,” Baker said.

He said the FBI also is informed.

However, there is not much the police can do in a case like this.

“The number usually goes to someone in a foreign country, who will then use the information you provided to steal your identity or electronically transfer your money,” Grassino said.

For information on this issue or any other service provided by CNB call the bank’s customer service center at 233-3535.

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