Plenty of Iowans could use a thousand-dollar gift card at this time of year. Be warned though, thousands of people are getting text messages on their phones, telling them they’ve been picked to get a big-money gift card from a well-known retailer. Jim Hegarty, of the Better Business Bureau, says you shouldn’t fall for it. “The text message indicates you’re eligible for a free $1000 gift card from Target,” Hegarty says. “It indicates you need to go to a website and enter an access code.” Don’t go to the website, no matter how tempting it may be. Hegarty says the senders of the texts are up to no good.

“What ends up happening, you get further bombardment, emails, all sorts of offers from companies we don’t know anything about,” Hegarty says. “We can’t really evaluate the legitimacy of them.” The best course of action is to just delete the text, as no good will come from it, certainly not a free thousand-dollar gift card.  He says, “We believe this is a phishing scheme that is simply designed to gather lots of personal information about consumers that can ultimately be sold.” Iowans are reminded to treat any text message that comes to their phone from someone they don’t know just like they’re treat an email from an unknown source — as if it’s spam. Learn more at www.bbb.org.

(Radio Iowa)

The Atlantic Police Department says no injuries were reported following an accident Saturday morning, at 7th and Poplar Streets. Officials say vehicles driven by Leo Garside and Troy Retallic, both of Atlantic, collided at the intersection at around 9:10-a.m., when Retallic failed to stop for the red light as he was traveling west on 7th Street, and Garside was traveling south. The police report did not indicate if any citations were issued. Damage from the accident amounted to $6,500.

Authorities in Red Oak are investigating another storage unit burglary. Authorities says the Hawkeye Storage Units at 2505 N. Broadway in Red Oak were hit sometime over the weekend. On Sunday, a Red Oak woman reported to police someone cut the lock off of her storage rental unit. Once inside, the thief or thieves stole two kerosene heaters, two lawn mowers, one 40-gallon trash can, and numerous garden tools. The loss was estimated at about $435.

The same storage facility was late last May. At the time, authorities said a motorcycle was stolen from a storage unit. Another Red Oak storage facility, Park West Storage, was hit by thieves in June.

Anyone with information on the most recent theft, is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at (712)-623-5107 or Montgomery County Crime stoppers at 1-800-432-1001.

The Atlantic Police Department reported Monday (Today), two people were arrested over the past few days. On Sunday, 26-year old Justin Knutsen, of Atlantic, was arrested for Criminal Mischief in the 2nd degree, and Interference with Official Acts. And, on Friday, 24-year old Samuel Stein, of Portsmouth, was arrested in Atlantic for Public Intoxication.

Both men were booked into the Cass County Jail and held, pending an appearance before the magistrate.