Bank issues statement on recent phishing scam

INDIANA (WLFI) - A bank has sent out an assurance to its customers and non-customers alike discussing the recent text message scam that hit the area.

Recently, a phishing text message appearing to be sent by Alliance Bank was received on a number of cell phones.

You can read our original story we published last week.

These fraudulent text messages were an attempt by criminals to persuade recipients to divulge card information.

Non-customers as well as customers received the messages, and there was no compromise of information by Alliance Bank, according to the bank’s statement.

“The account number referenced in the text message is a common card prefix,” the statement said. “The thieves were attempting to gain the rest of the card number.”

The criminals appeared to send messages only to cell phone numbers commonly issued in areas that the bank serves.

Phishing scams often target customers of financial institutions and retail merchants in an attempt to get account numbers, social security numbers, passwords and more with the ultimate goal of stealing cash from their victims.

“Alliance Bank follows common banking and business practices when verifying a customer’s identity or other information,” the statement said. “We do not utilize account numbers or whole tax identification numbers to verify your identity. We strongly advise that you never divulge this type of information to anyone.”