The Prince George's County Police Department has issued a warning about a growing bank text scam that has defrauded victims of a combined $95,000 through three reports received last week. The scam begins with a text message that appears to be from the victim's bank, warning of potential fraud on their account and urging them to call a provided phone number. Once the victim calls, they are connected to a scammer who has detailed information about the victim's bank account, including recent transactions, to convince them of the scam's legitimacy. Victims are then instructed to withdraw their money and deposit it into a cryptocurrency ATM, a traditional ATM, or purchase gift cards. The scammers subsequently steal the deposited money or the gift card numbers. The police urge residents who receive such texts to immediately hang up and call their bank directly using the number on the back of their bank card or visit the bank in person. Anyone who believes they have been victimized or has information about the scam should report it to the PGPD Financial Crimes Unit at 301-516-1464. In addition to the local scam, the Federal Trade Commission reported that text scams cost consumers $470 million in 2024, with fake package delivery issues and bogus job opportunities being the most commonly reported types. The FTC advises consumers to forward suspicious texts to 7726 (SPAM) and report them through their messaging apps or directly to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Separately, in Spain, CaixaBank has alerted its customers to a scam involving a fake SMS followed by a fraudulent call, aimed at stealing banking credentials. CaixaBank advises customers never to click on links in SMS messages and to access their bank's services through the official app or website. In the U.S., experts have warned about 'wrong number' text scams, with 19.2 billion spam texts reported in March 2025 by Robokiller. Amy Nofziger with AARP advises consumers to ignore and delete unsolicited texts and report them to the FTC.