NATCHEZ — Local banks are warning their customers to be on the lookout for automated scam calls.

“We have received an abnormally large number of calls from our customers who have been targeted in what we call a pretext calling scam,” said Adrian Sandel, senior vice president of retail delivery at United Mississippi Bank. “They are receiving calls from an automated calling system with an automated voice telling them their debit or credit card may have been compromised.”

The call then asks the victim to input card or account information into an automated system, something Sandel said a bank would never do.

The calls don’t appear to be isolated to customers of a single bank or credit card company, and Sandel said the unusual thing about these scammers is that they are calling people on cell phones as well as traditional land lines.

Someone who receives such a call should not provide the information it requests.

“We, nor any other bank or credit card company, would never call customers and ask for credit card or personal information,” Sandel said.