You probably get fake texts and emails every day — scammers mimic real companies to trick you into divulging your personal information.
A Boston woman mistakenly fell for one of these scams in July when she got a text message she thought came from her bank.
“It said it was from Chase … it said that, like, my account got compromised,” said Sarah Valmond of West Roxbury. “They said I need to change my PIN code, and I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ And they gave me, like, ‘Oh, you have this much time or your card is going to, like, we’re going to have to send you out a new card, like, your card is not going to work anymore.'”
She said the text looked legitimate, and she clicked on a link in it and provided scammers with her bank card and PIN.
Days later, she says she was ordering groceries online when her card was declined and she realized her bank account was empty.
On July 6, someone made three ATM withdrawals in Westwood, and a $4,000 in-person withdrawal at Chase Bank in Dedham, draining her account of $5,200.
“I was freaking out. I’m like, ‘This is, like, this is lagging. Something’s wrong,’ like, I could not believe it. I really thought it was just, like a joke,” said Valmond. “It was my nightmare. Honestly, honestly, like working, saving … I had school supplies and clothes and everything to get ready for, and all of it’s gone.”
Valmond filed a fraud claim, and Chase initially credited her account. But the bank reversed course a week later, telling…
