# New text/phone scam? Text from unknown source with a link to "a receipt for a purchase you've made" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437 "2019-04-12T13:04:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437/1 "2019-04-12T13:04:37Z")
This morning I got a text message on my phone telling me that “my receipt from a recent purchase at Wal-Mart was now available for viewing.” Well, I haven’t been in Wal-Mart for months. Needless to say, I didn’t follow the link (you only do that ONCE :smack: ), and I deleted the message. I only have one credit card-- a Visa card with Chase Bank-- and I use it for everything. I went online to the account. I recognized all the recent charges, and there were no charges to Wal-Mart. I called the credit card company and they agreed. I asked the CSR if she had heard of this particular phone scam and she had not-- at least not yet. I have alerts set up on my one Visa account so I get a text FROM CHASE BANK if a charge over $50 is made (even if I do it) and/or if a charge is made and the card is not physically present (even if I do it). (I urge everyone to go to their credit card account online and set up these alerts.) The text message I got was not from Chase Bank; it was from an unfamiliar 5-digit number. Has anyone else gotten scam texts like this? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437/2 "2019-04-12T13:08:50Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > This morning I got a text message on my phone telling me that “my receipt from a recent purchase at Wal-Mart was now available for viewing.” Well, I haven’t been in Wal-Mart for months. Needless to say, I didn’t follow the link (you only do that ONCE :smack: ), and I deleted the message. > > I only have one credit card-- a Visa card with Chase Bank-- and I use it for everything. I went online to the account. I recognized all the recent charges, and there were no charges to Wal-Mart. I called the credit card company and they agreed. I asked the CSR if she had heard of this particular phone scam and she had not-- at least not yet. > > I have alerts set up on my one Visa account so I get a text FROM CHASE BANK if a charge over $50 is made (even if I do it) and/or if a charge is made and the card is not physically present (even if I do it). (I urge everyone to go to their credit card account online and set up these alerts.) The text message I got was not from Chase Bank; it was from an unfamiliar 5-digit number. > > Has anyone else gotten scam texts like this? The text might have been just some fat-fingered WalMart minion punching in the wrong number, but better safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437/3 "2019-04-12T13:13:26Z")
I’ve gotten vaguely similar texts, but to be honest I haven’t even completed reading them before deletion. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437/4 "2019-04-12T16:01:02Z")
I don’t think it’s a money scam but it could be advertising for something shady thing or another, or a phishing attempt to get you to link to something that will download a phone virus. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437/5 "2019-04-12T16:04:19Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I don’t think it’s a money scam but it could be advertising for something shady thing or another, or a phishing attempt to get you to link to something that will download a phone virus. Yeah, that’d be my guess. If they sent out that link to a bunch of random people, chances are pretty good that some of them will have made a recent purchase at Walmart. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-text-phone-scam-text-from-unknown-source-with-a-link-to-a-receipt-for-a-purchase-youve-made/832437/6 "2019-04-12T16:23:02Z")
Personally, I think you put too much effort into it making all those calls. You get a call you don’t recognize, don’t answer. You get a link in an email or text that doesn’t make sense, delete it. You did that, but there wasn’t much point in continuing beyond that. FWIW, I get a handful of ‘your invoice is ready to view’ emails, but they’re little more than "OMG, look at these pictures from last night [link]. Just a hacked account sending out links hoping someone will click on it and divulge their credentials.