Bank scam hits residents in the 509 area code region

A scam targeting people in the 509 area code surfaced March 31. Known as “phishing,” the scam sent texts, automated phone messages, and e-mails advising Bank of Whitman customers and non-customers alike their accounts had been frozen.

Victims were asked to provide credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and security codes to re-activate the cards, according to Bill Knox, Bank of Whitman president.

“They are usually being put together by some very sophisticated people. This seems to be a rampant one in the sense it took some coordination for them to pull this off,” said Zan Deery, Better Business Bureau spokesman in Spokane.

The bogus attempt to get account information went out in a random pattern, to non-customers and customers of the bank. Most people contacted were not customers.

“We immediately contacted the FBI, and let them know what was going on,” Knox said.

FBI officials suspect someone on the east coast of the U.S. hacked into a Web site containing contact information for people in the 509 region.

Knox said he is confident the FBI will have pinpointed the source of the 509 numbers by next week and shut down that Web site. The problem should be solved by then, Knox said.

All the same, almost 30 people reacted to one of the phony scams by responding to the phone number given in the automated messages; Texas Pest Control Company in Texas.

Deery said the numbers from which people received the scam could also be phony.

“The calls were indicating that these people’s cards would be frozen or suspended, enter a debit card or CC information and expiration date,” Knox said.

Both agencies warned the public to be wary and selective in handing out their personal information.

Knox stressed there was no internal security breach on the part of the Bank of Whitman; those 509 contacts came from an exterior source.

“The key important thing we communicate out is their financial information is safe with us. We go to many efforts to safeguard customers information,” Knox said.

The Bank of Whitman is based in Colfax and has 22 branches in the area.