GREELEY, Colo. -- Hundreds of cell phone users in Greeley have received automated messages or texts in the past couple days, warning them that their bank accounts have been misused.

Police and bank officials say it's a scam -- someone is trying to steal your account numbers so they can take your money or run up huge credit card purchases.

Greeley police and the Weld District Attorney's Office both issued warnings Tuesday about a phone scam that is trying to get credit and debit card numbers, according to the Greeley Tribune.

The calls falsely warn that a person's checking, debit or credit card account have been deactivated or used improperly. In each case, they ask the caller to contact them and to give their credit/debit card or bank account numbers, according to the Tribune.

Nationally, this practice is called “smishing,” derived from SMS technology -- Short Message Service -- that's used for cell phone text messages.

In a press release Tuesday, Weld District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Jennifer Finch explained what the automated calls wanted, then warned not to give out important numbers.

"In reality, what the individual has done is provide all the needed information for a con artist to fraudulently access funds on the card," Finch said.

Many of the callers to police and to The Tribune complained that the voice-recording caller told them there was something wrong with their Weld School Credit Union account. But many who received the calls don't bank at the credit union. Some calls stated that the local Wells Fargo bank was involved.

Both the credit union and Wells Fargo bank officials said Tuesday the calls were all scams.

“We've probably received more than 200 calls about this,” said Steve Sanborn, president of the Weld Schools Credit Union. “They also did this to us about a year ago. This time, when they're finished with us, they'll probably switch to other banks in the area.”

Neither the credit union nor Wells Fargo called their customers and requested personal account information. Bill Kurtz, president of Wells Fargo in Greeley, warned that anyone receiving the messages should delete them.

“Never divulge information on a text, e-mail or phone call,” Kurtz told the Tribune. “If you want to check, call your bank on the number you have called before.”