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February 8, 2024
We have recently been alerted to a new scam affecting consumers in our area that is a spin on classic phone phishing tactics. Here's the way the scam works:
You are contacted by someone posing as an employee of your financial institution or some other business with whom you have an account. The caller claims that your account has been hacked and asks you to type a series of numbers into the phone during the call. After entering the numbers, the call ends and you are suddenly unable to use your phone!
The way this works is the scammer will ask you to input the code *72 and a 10-digit phone number. When you input this into your phone and hit call, it automatically forwards all future calls to the 10-digit phone number you input after the *72. With your phone forwarding calls, the scammer is now free to commit fraud using your phone number and any attempts to contact you will be automatically rerouted to the scammer, allowing them to use your phone and identity for verification.
Here are steps you can take if you think you have been the victim of this scam:
- Dial *73 on your phone. This ends call forwarding to the other number.
- Check your accounts right away to ensure there has not been any fraud committed using your phone number. If you discover fraud, contact the business associated with any affected accounts to alert them to the situation.
- Whenever you receive a call from someone claiming to be from a specific bank or business and you are unsure whether the call is legitimate, end the call and contact the business directly using a known, publicly available number.