RALEIGH, N.C. — The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper warned that scammers often try to trick people into providing account numbers and confidential information by pretending to represent a bank or other institution and claiming there is a problem with the person's account.
In the latest version of this scam, people are getting text messages that appear to be from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Social Services.
In North Carolina, all child support payments are funneled through DHHS, and the parent who receives the child support has the option of receiving the funds via a debit card called an ncKIDSCard.
The fraudulent text message states that there is a problem with the victim's ncKIDSCard account and provides a telephone number to call.
In fact, there's no problem with the account, and in many instances, the person getting the text has never even had an ncKIDScard account.
The message is an attempt by scammers to steal much-needed child support payments.
"The heartlessness of con artists is well known," the attorney general stated in a news release. "They seek out vulnerable people, often those who are struggling to make ends meet, and they have no qualms about stealing from them."
If you think you or someone you know might have been scammed, report it to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or filing a complaint online at www.ncdoj.gov http://www.ncdoj.gov.
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