MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Security experts want you to beware of a possible banking scam targeting you, your money and your personal information.
Benji Caston received a text message yesterday morning, claiming to be from First Horizon bank, saying his account had been temporarily restricted. Then, it encouraged him to click on a link to fix the issue.
Caston immediately knew something was up. He doesn’t even bank with First Horizon. Caston, who also works in IT, knew something was off with the link.
“This had a bunch of numbers and letters and things that were obviously not part of the bank’s website,” Caston said.
He ignored the message and did not click on the link.
“Took a screenshot for evidence obviously and then just deleted it immediately,” Caston said.
Nancy Crawford with the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South calls this an imposter scam. Scammers use names of trusted companies to bait you, then get to your personal information.
First Horizon, formerly First Tennessee Bank, warns of this issue on their website, saying, “First Horizon will never initiate contact with you directly asking for personal or account information.”
“Never give your information to someone who contacts you, no matter the method,” Crawford said. “If they contact you unsolicited, out of the blue you get this contact, they’re asking for your personal information, don’t give it. If they’re asking for payment of some kind, don’t give it. “
She says if you get a message like this or think a message is suspicious, call the companies directly.
“I got a contact. Is there a problem? Is there something I need to fix?” Crawford said.
“I would hate for someone’s grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, somebody else who might not be as IT savvy to go and get that stimulus money that they really needed and have someone log into their account and just take it from them and they’d be left holding nothing,” Caston said.
