Police in Montgomery County, Maryland, want you and your family to be wary of anyone who tells you your ATM card is faulty and offers to pick it up. They are likely scammers who are desperate to drain your bank account.
“They’re being told by an individual who is purporting to be from their financial institution that your bank card has been compromised,” Montgomery County police detective Sean Petty told WTOP.
Then this scammer will tell you that they will send a courier to your home to retrieve your bank card and that you will need to provide your PIN as well.
Petty said those scammers will then assure, “We’re going to be in touch with you, and then we’re going to give you another card. We’re going to mail you another card.”
But those fraudsters will instead use that card and go to a nearby ATM and pull your money out.
“If there’s a considerable amount of money, unfortunately, the victims are losing that amount of money from their accounts, and we’re left trying to identify the individuals,” he said.
Petty said senior citizens have been the frequent target of these scams. He warns that your bank will never send someone to your house to pick up a card. If you are unsure, always call the bank directly and ask if the claim that the card is malfunctioning is true.
In April, a man was sentenced 18 years in prison after being convicted of targeting two elderly people in gold bar scams in Montgomery County. In that same month, a man in Prince George’s County said he was scammed out of $40,000.
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