CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Right now, people are trying to get by as inflation reaches a 40 year high. And while people pinch pennies, scammers continue to scheme, making life harder.
“Someone is trying to get my money and I don’t have that much money to begin with,” said Israel Gomez.
Gomez said he’s never been robbed of his money, but scammers have tried.
“I get scam calls every day, like most people do. Sometimes four or five calls a day.”
Gomez is worried for people who do respond to these calls and text messages. His best advice is to be alert of any suspicious activity.
“I check my account every day and they should too. To be sure that not even $10 dollars gets scammed out of your account,” said Gomez.
People shopping at La Palmera Mall tell KRIS 6 News they have received phone calls from people posing as representatives from different companies, trying to take their money.
“They took about $1,000 from my friend and from my friend's grandma too,” said Kash Perez and his friends.
Aumendiues Robles also knows people who have been scammed.
“They go after the weak and the poor and people who are struggling,” he said.
Denise Owens the Senior Vice President at Plains Capital Bank said as the economy has worsened, there’s been an increase in fraudulent account takeover. The most common methods used to trick victims into sharing their personal information via text.
“They’re asked to respond and once they do that, they receive a call from the fraudster,” Owens said.
Owens said once they hack into a computer they will be able to gain access to your banking information without raising red flags.
“They can transfer funds from other accounts that they have linked to their online banking. Even their savings accounts.”
Owens says you can avoid becoming a victim by not responding to text messages that may seem suspicious. She also says if you receive a call from an unknown number asking you to sign on to a computer, you should hang up immediately.
“You should never give them personal information and you should never grant them access to your computer,” said Owens.
