The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station is warning Santa Clarita Valley residents against the latest tactics used by scammers trying to defraud the unwary of their money.

One of the latest scams is sending a text message that appears to be a legitimate enquiry reaching out to a wrong number… yours.

Messages like the following:

The text message above, at first glance, might seem legit. If you received it, you may have been tempted to reply back to this “worried person” that they have “the wrong number.”

Scammers are desperate. They are looking for victims- people that will interact back. They know that most people have wised up to the “You won a prize” or “Unusual activity on your Amazon account” spam messages and so they have moved on to other methods and tactics.

IF you respond back your number will be marked as active, the conversation will continue and the next thing you know, they will be trying “to get to know you,” getting more information, all for the purpose of swindling you out of your hard-earned money.

So what should you do if you receive a text out of nowhere from a number that you don’t recognize?

Ignore the message and delete it from your device. DO NOT respond in any way to the message. This message could be from a scammer trying to steal your personal and financial information.

For more information on staying safe from scammers visit https://lasd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Pamplet_Victim_Fraud_2020.pdf.