Texts about deactivated debit cards are a scam, officials warn | Crime & Courts | Wichita Eagle

Texts about deactivated debit cards are a scam, officials warn | Crime & Courts | Wichita Eagle: "The text message came to Valerie Johnson on Tuesday morning.

'Your credit union debit card has been deactivated,' it said, offering a telephone number for Johnson to call to reactivate it.

She decided to call her credit union instead.

'When I called them, there were other phones ringing in the background,' said Johnson, a secretary at North High. 'I could hear her say, 'We got another one!' and then, to me, 'Just ignore it. I don't know what's going on. There's been several of them. Your card is fine.' '

So many people around Wichita have been getting similar text messages over the past few days that police on Tuesday stepped forward to warn people against the scam.

Detective Brad Tuzicka of the financial crimes section said the texts are simply a new form of "phishing," which is when crooks try to persuade unwitting targets to provide account information, PIN numbers and other data they need to steal money electronically.

"It's really nothing new," Tuzicka said. "It's just a new twist on an old scam -- it's a new way to steal."

People who receive the scam text messages should report them on the FBI's Web site: www.fbi.gov.

Johnson said she has had problems with her debit card before, so when she read that it had been deactivated, she wasn't caught off-guard.

But she's glad she called her credit union instead of the number on the text message.

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