There is a scam going around via smishing (text scam to cell phones) which reads: FWD:  (ALERT) T.V.F.C.U – Your  *CARD starting with 4291 was *DISABLED.  Please ACTIVATE at (877)331.8440.

This is a scam and as a reminder we will never contact you asking for personal or private information.

The Breakdown:

Scammers can easily purchase or pirate lists of cell phone numbers for a specific region. By spamming a region with the name of a financial institution from that area the scammer hopes to add credibility to the message and this entice you to respond.

Concerning the 4 digits of the card number. These numbers are not extremely secretive. The first 6 numbers are called a BIN number. Every financial institution has their own specific/unique number(s). It’s used to route the transactions to the correct institution. It is no great feat to send a message to a set of telephone numbers in a specific region with a name and first 4 digits of a card number.

While it’s not very tricky to accomplish this, it can be very effective to those who may not realize this. We offer this information to you so that you can be aware of the many tactics scammers use and protect yourself.

Be informed, be safe.