Many locals with cellphones received text messages Monday that their Pine River Valley Bank cards had been temporarily suspended, but it was all a scam.
“Nothing at the bank has been hacked,” the bank’s chief operating officer, Brandie Flann, said Monday afternoon. “It was just scammers sending out the message to random cellphones.”
The bank received nonstop calls after the text message went out, she said.
“Some people, about 10 percent or so, responded and gave their account information,” Flann said. “But most were smart and savvy enough to know it’s a scam. Most were calling to alert us of the scam, including a lot of noncustomers.”
One of the things that may have made the message seem more credible is that it referred to cards starting with the number 4477.
“Every bank has a universal number used for debit and Visa cards that is assigned to your bank,” Flann said. “Pine River Valley Bank’s number is 4477.”
A bank would never call, and certainly never text, asking for information the bank already has, said Leslie McGowd, marketing coordinator for Pine River Valley Bank.
“And we would never, ever ask for your (personal identification number),” she said.
The cellphones targeted all seemed to have local numbers, Flann said, because they have been getting calls from people in California, Washington and Nevada who apparently used to live here and got their cellphones here. The messages also went to customers of other banks, and some of them may have responded as well, Flann said.
She has some standard advice for people who receive similar phone calls, emails or text messages.
“Never reply. Just ignore them,” she said. “They do these random messages to see who will respond. And if you did respond, I hope you’ll call your bank to get the cards shut down.”
The Durango Police Department did not respond to calls for comments on the text message scam.
abutler@durangoherald.com
