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SALT LAKE CITY — If you get a text offering a $1,000 Walmart gift card, it's not your lucky day — you're likely the target of a new scam.
The text -- which has been hitting cell phones fast and furiously over the past 24 to 48 hours -- often comes from a 202 area code and reads, "You have just won a free $1,000 Walmart gift card." It instructs the phone's user to enter a code at a website linked in the text.
While the website looks realistic enough, experts say it's all a big scam — one that is impacting people all over the country.
Facebook users from Ogden, Provo and even North Carolina told KSL they'd received the text recently. Even people in the KSL newsroom have been targeted.
It could be a hack where they've gone in and just hacked the database and done some data mining and gotten it out of there. It could be coming from a disgruntled employee who's leaving, say, a large department chain.
–Traci Gundersen
"It's nothing that I saw until I woke up, but my wife and my mother-in-law have received the text," said ksl.com managing editor Josh Furlong. "It'd be awesome if it's true, but I didn't click on it because I figured it wouldn't be true."
The big question is, where are the scammers getting the phone numbers?
"It could be a hack where they've gone in and just hacked the database and done some data mining and gotten it out of there," said Traci Gundersen, director of the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. "It could be coming from a disgruntled employee who's leaving, say, a large department chain."
Gundersen said those types of databases are very valuable on the black market for reasons made obvious by this scam. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell who is responsible for the leak — making it even more difficult to catch the scammers.
"I'm sure they just reiterate these scams over and over again," Gundersen said. "They're going to target these reputable businesses and they're going to make [their scams] look as legitimate as possible. They're going to try to take as much cash as possible. They're going to move on and try another scam."
Since receiving inquiries about the text, investigators at the division have looked further into its origins. They traced one phone number behind the text back to a pre-paid cell phone, though they acknowledge the number could be randomly generated. They also traced the promodaygiveaway.com/walmart website to the Bahamas. Investigators said both leads turned out to be dead ends.
State investigators were also able to look further into the ploy. The website ultimately asks users to download software, which also installs a program that tracks key strokes.
Walmart spokesperson Ashley Hardie said Monday afternoon the company does not participate in these types of text promotions and does not randomly solicit customers via text.
Hardie said it is possible for customers to receive a $1,000 gift card if randomly selected upon completion of an official survey. Hardie said those surveys are not solicited, and require a valid transaction number located on a receipt, among other things.
Winners of survey $1,000 gift cards are notified by registered mail, Hardie said.
