The police have warned people to watch out for potential SMS scams in which users are tricked into handing over their credit card details.

Fraudsters are sending out text messages purporting to be from Bank of Valletta or HSBC, telling them that their account has been locked and that they need to click a link included in the message to re-activate it.

Clicking the link takes users to a website in which they are asked to input their credit card details, which fraudsters can then use to steal money from their account.

Examples of the text messages being sent.Examples of the text messages being sent.

In a brief statement sent out on Friday, the police said that they had received “a number” of reports in recent days about this phishing attempt and warned people to not be fooled by such scams.

Anyone who receives such a text message should delete it immediately, the police said.

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