Are These Bank SMS Messages Real

Before text messages, there were emails. Before emails, there were phone calls and snail mail. Prior to that, I suppose people depended on the telegraph.

Communication has always been necessary, and with it comes the opportunity for others to take advantage of it. Given the reliance on and ease of using text messages, it's now one of the quickest ways to communicate. While people might always have their phones in their pockets, they don't always have a laptop or computer with them. So, texting is a great way to contact people and to scam them too.

Scammers and fraudsters are working 24-7 to separate you from your money and your belongings. Lately they've been sending text messages, posing as bank officials who need to confirm information relating to a purchase or let you know that your account has been compromised.

Scammers will sometimes send a text stating that you need to click on a link in the text to update your login and password, because of a recent security breach.

They may also ask you to confirm whether you made certain recent purchases, as another scam. But there are a few things to think about doing to confirm whether the text is real.

1. Call your bank and speak directly to a representative.
2. Never give anyone who is texting you or calling you your login and password information.
3. Ask the person who is texting you to confirm their identity.
4. If you've never received text messages from your bank, then you should be suspicious of any text messages that you start to receive, unless you signed up to receive them.
5. Don't respond to suspicious text messages. Instead, report them as junk or delete them.

Feel free to check out my video on understanding fraudulent bank text messages here: https://youtu.be/HG0bnZ9HX6o.