North Texans share warning about 'bank impostor' scam that cost them thousands

Two North Texans are sounding the warning bell over what the Better Business Bureau calls the ‘bank impostor’ scam.

Pastor Oscar Epps and Sam Heller live in different parts of North Texas, one in the Roanoke area, the other, around Cedar Hill.

They were brought together by bank impostors stealing their money last Tuesday with a phone call they thought was from their banks, but it was a phishing game. The numbers were spoofed.

"My name is so-and-so from Chase Bank. Looks like there's some suspicious activity on your account. Somebody's trying to purchase something from a Best Buy in Phoenix, Arizona," said Heller. "She says you're going to get a text message from us, read me back the numbers. So I get a text message from Chase Bank, and she said okay, it looks like it's coming from your account ending in blah, blah, blah, and she knew exactly the account number."

Heller, thinking it was real, did what she was instructed to do, and her account was zapped.

$1,200 in small purchases with cash back at Walmart stores and $1,400 taken in ATM withdrawals.

"The stories are pretty much identical," said Epps. "After doing what they did as far as all the little charges they did in terms of gift cards at a Kroger grocery store, they then sucked money from my account, $6,500."

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We brought the Better Business Bureau's Monica Horton into the conversation.

"Anytime you receive an unsolicited text message, phone call, email, a phishing attempt, and that's what these are, is to discontinue that conversation," said Horton. "Guard your PIN number and guard any two-factor authentication messages that you receive. Don't give them out to the crooks."

Sam Heller's hoping her siphoned funds will be replaced.

For Oscar Epps, it's a different story.

"They said that they would not give me anything back because they don't see where they did anything wrong," he said.

A costly life lesson learned.

"I even called the phone numbers back just to verify that they were Chase Bank, and they really were two Chase Bank branches. So don't trust what you see on Caller ID," said Heller. 

Monica Horton gave good tips. You get the call or the text, don't give out any information.

If you're concerned that there could be some fishy business with your bank accounts, call them back yourself. 

Don't give anyone any information if they call you.