AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – The Amarillo Police Department warned community members to be aware of a recent “impressively complex” scam involving a fake app being used to collect bank account and personal information.
According to the police department, the scam begins with criminals impersonating law enforcement officers and contacting a person to claim that their bank account may have been involved in financial fraud. Then, the person is asked to download a mobile app to assist with the investigation, which assigns the person a case number and makes “legal-looking” documents available for viewing. The app then asks for bank account and personal information.
“The most clever part of this scam is what the app does in the background,” the police department warning continued, “When you first install the app, it blocks all incoming calls and text messages. That way, you won’t be alerted if your bank attempts to contact you about unusual behavior on your account. If all goes as planned, the cybercriminals will steal your money and sensitive information before you know what happened.”