Bank warns of phone scam

Times-Shamrock Staff Report

An automated message claiming to come from a Scranton-based bank is really a phishing scam aimed at stealing account information.

People’s Security Bank and Trust Co. has fielded a number of calls from people targeted throughout the weekend, said bank security officer Steve Lawrenson on Monday.

The message prompts people to enter confidential bank information by telling them their debit card has been frozen. But the scam also targets people who do not have an account with People’s Security Bank.

The robot program seems to contact all numbers at random in the 570 area code. The bank has also received two reports of fraudulent text messages. The Federal Trade Commission and FBI were notified, Lawrenson said.

Lawrenson is certain the calls do not represent a bank security breach. If there was a breach, the message would not target numbers that are not associated with People’s Security Bank, he said.

“It’s just a blanket algorithm calling every number in the 570 area code,” he said.

When an unknown caller popped up on Blakely Police Chief Guy Salerno’s phone on Sunday, he suspected a scam and answered the call to see what he could find out. The robotic voice told him his debit card with People’s Security Bank was locked and he needed to follow the prompts to resolve it.

“There have been a number of phone scams,” Chief Salerno said. “I knew it didn’t sound right.”

Chief Salerno stopped listening when it asked him for his bank account information. That was far enough.

“Don’t ever give personal information out over the phone,” Chief Salerno warned.

The bank would not have an automated message contact customers, Lawrenson said. Interactions would be done with a human, and the customer would typically initiate the call.