Phishing scam includes text messages posing as EDD and Bank of America
Scam text messages claiming to be from California's Employment Development Department and Bank of America. The phishing scammers are once again targeting unemployment benefits money, bank accounts and your personal information.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A new round of deceiving text messages are popping up on cell phones, sent by scammers claiming to be from the California EDD or Bank of America.
In recent weeks, several Californians tell KTVU they’ve received phishing scam texts that attempt to get pin, debit card numbers, or account information related to unemployment benefits.
"I was already apprehensive of it because I’m not even on unemployment anymore," Jessica Cancel of Stockton said. "It’s evil because why would you want to do that to a normal person?"
It’s not new. But California’s Employment Development Department warned the sophisticated schemes are still trying to trick people into clicking a link that takes them to a website that may look legitimate.
Cancel admitted she clicked that link, which took her to a page with a Bank of America logo and asked for a debit card number, the expiration date, security code, and ATM pin.
"The address that’s on the top is ROFL dot LOL, so rolling on the floor laughing dot LOL, laugh out loud," she said. "I knew this doesn’t sound right."
EDD text messages only link to websites that include "edd.ca.gov".
While Cancel didn’t fall victim to the phishing scam, others may unsuspectingly be caught hook, line, and sinker.
Since the start of the pandemic, $181 billion has been paid out in unemployment insurance payments.
A chunk of that has gone to fraudsters, according to former EDD Director Michael Bernick.
Bernick has been in close contact with officials at the EDD since the pandemic began, keeping an eye on claims, rampant fraud and department challenges.
"We’ve seen the enormous amount of money washing through the system," he said. "I think that’s the new normal in government benefits."
The EDD has put new identity safeguards in place over the last year, which has prevented some fraud.
SEE ALSO: Letters out to verify frozen EDD disability claims, delays persist
The weekly backlog of claims has greatly reduced from close to 200,000 last year to roughly 6,000 now.
Bernick said unemployment insurance has long been the primary target of identity thieves, but he expects sophisticated scams to also hit disability insurance, food stamps, and welfare programs.
The EDD warned Californians to be on alert with several tips.
- Never click a link in an unexpected text message
- Messages asking to reactivate a debit card are scams
- Verify if an EDD text message is legitimate by logging onto "UI Online"
- Call Bank of America using the phone number on the back of the debit card to confirm bank-related messages
- Do not respond to suspicious text messages
- EDD only sends text messages from the number 510-74 or 918-06
Californians who receive suspicious cell phone or email phishing communications should report those scam attempts to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Phishing emails can be forwarded to the FTC’s Anti-Phishing Working Group at and phishing text messages can be forwarded to the FTC at 7726. You can also call the EDD Fraud Hotline at 1-800-229-6297.
Brooks Jarosz is an investigative reporter for KTVU. Email him at and follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @BrooksKTVU
During the pandemic, the I-Team was flooded with complaints about Bank of America EDD debit card accounts - consumers say they’d unknowingly been drained, and the bank did nothing to help. Two years later, it’s still a problem. And federal regulators have issues with the bank, too; they recently slammed Bank of America with hefty fines.
Bernadette Abbruzze owns an automotive manufacturing business. For the past 28 years it’s been her pride and joy. But when COVID hit, her business tanked.
“My sales went to zero. Nobody was buying chemicals. Everybody was afraid they were going to die from this virus. The last thing somebody was going to do is get an oil change in their car,” said Abbruzze.
Abbruzze says she paid her employees for months using money out of her own pocket. So she was relieved when she learned that she qualified for unemployment benefits.
But when Abbruzze went to an ATM earlier this spring, her Bank of America EDD account had been wiped out.
“You have no money. And I said there’s got to be a mistake,” she said.
The amount: $18,000 - gone! Abbruzzi filed a complaint with Bank of America but says the bank denied it.
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“Case closed. I’m like, ‘How? Where do I go now? What do I do?’ So I figured I just have to write it off,” she said.
It’s a story the I-Team heard over and over again earlier in the pandemic – consumers like Amanda Bailey and Patricia Moynihan said the money in their Bank of America debit card accounts had disappeared.
“The account was totally empty. I couldn’t even get $30 out of it,” said Bailey.
“The point of that money is to keep me going until I’m on my feet again,” said Moynihan.
Security expert Jim Stickley told the I-Team back then that the debit cards were likely getting hacked, or skimmed. It’s when thieves attach a device to an ATM and steal the data from your card when you insert it.
“When you put it into a machine, they can put a skimmer in there, or if you give it to somebody at a restaurant, and they walk away with that card, they can skim the card, or record the data off the magnetic stripe, and make their own card,” said Stickley.
Every time the I-Team has reached out to Bank of America with a fraud case, it has refunded consumers. It did the same for Abbruzze.
In a statement to the I-Team, the bank said: “When a client disagrees with our initial review, we encourage the client to ask for reconsideration and provide any additional information that may be available.”
But federal regulators have a beef with the bank, too. They recently fined it $225 million for how it handled fraud on EDD accounts during the pandemic.
In a statement, Bank of America said; “This action arose despite the government’s own acknowledgement that the unemployment program expansion during the pandemic created unprecedented criminal activity.” It also said the bank “enabled the government to successfully issue more than $250 billion dollars in pandemic unemployment benefits to more than 14 million people.”
Abbruzze is simply happy the $18,000 is back in her account.
“You know what, I feel like I hit the lotto,” she said.