Raleigh resident Yanon Gray reached out to ABC11 after he received an "odd" text Tuesday afternoon.
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The text appeared to be from BOA, it read: "(BOA) Your account is limited. Please follow the link to securely update your personal information:(link)."
The link takes you to a fake BOA site. The page that appears is actually a loaded static image from the real website.
After a few seconds, you're redirected and prompted to update your personal information.
Gray said the text surprised him because he doesn't even bank with Bank of America.
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"I don't want anyone to fall for this scam," Gray said. "(The) only reason I knew it was is because I've only ever banked with state employees."
The text message looks similar to an SMS the bank would send out; however, there are a few signifiers you can look out for.
First is the number the messages comes from. Typically, if a bank sends out an alert it comes from the company's automated system (692632) or another shortcode they've set up.
Be wary of texts coming from cellphone numbers or email addresses like boaoffice@pmrconstruction.net (which occurred in a similar scam last year).
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Gray said what tipped him off was the suspicious looking link.
Real websites will be verified, secured or locked. That information is displayed next to website's link in the search bar.
On their web site Bank of America states that they'll:
-Never ask customers to reply in an email or SMS with any personal information such as your Social Security number, ATM or PIN.
-Never claim the need to confirm important information via email or SMS due to system upgrades.
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If BOA customers receive texts like this they should log onto their account, on the secured website or app, and see if they have any notifications on their account.
Gray said when the text message used the word "limited" it immediately set off red flags. He said he deleted the message and advises others to do the same.
"I would say if you are skeptical about an email or message that you're not sure where it came from, don't click anything and just delete it," he said. "I'd rather be safe than sorry I just clicked on ransomware, phishing, Trojan horse, or whatever other virus or scam you can get yourself into. People are more clever than ever with how they trick people into getting sensitive informationHe advises other."
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