Suffolk County Police Warn Residents of Text Message Phishing Scam

The Suffolk County Police Departments Identity Theft Unit is warning residents of a cell phone text message phishing scam that has been reported in Suffolk County.

The text messages are designed to trick the receiver into divulging personal information through their cell phone. Several Suffolk County residents have notified police of text messages they have received that claim to be from different financial institutions requesting account information.

The Identity Theft Unit has warned Suffolk residents in the past about similar phishing schemes designed to trick potential victims into giving up their personal identifying information. The senders of the message usually claim to be from financial institutions, but also may state they represent government agencies and merchants that are requesting the information in order to update databases, recover from computer crashes or fix other problems with the victims accounts.

Other methods the identity thieves use to obtain personal information fraudulently include unsolicited phone calls or e-mails to the potential victims.

The public is reminded to never reveal their personal identifying information to anyone who has made an unsolicited contact by phone, e-mail, or text message. To prevent becoming a victim of a scam, the Identity Theft Unit recommends residents verify any request through independent means before releasing any of your personal information. Call the local office of the government agency or business through a publicly listed or verified phone number to verify that the caller and any request for personal information is legitimate and is actually required. Financial institutions will not request account information through these unsolicited communications.

For more information regarding identity theft prevention and resolution, visit the police departments website at www.suffolkpd.org and click on the ID Theft Unit link.