You’ve got a cell phone, you’ve probably received a spam text. It’s easy to fall for these traps, but there are things you can do to avoid becoming a victim.
Smishing (it stands for “SMS phishing”) scams are similar to your standard email phishing scam, with the exception that rather than email, the scammer attempts to trick the prospective victim via a text message.
Experts say smishing is an even more duplicitous way of scamming victims. That’s because text messages have a greater sense of urgency than emails; after all, if you receive a text from someone, it must be important, right?
Spotting attacks
When you get a smishing text, it will likely ask you to call a phone number or, even worse, click a link to address an issue (supposedly) by providing your bank account, phone data plan, or other personal information.
Calling a phone number could result in someone talking you into giving up your Social Security number, banking information, or website login. And clicking a link could take you to a fraudulent ID-theft website.
Avoiding the smish
Here are some tips from the pros:
- The best way to avoid smishing scams is to simply ignore any texts from numbers you don’t recognize.
- However, scammers may spoof numbers to make it seem a message is coming from a trusted number. So to be especially safe, simply avoid opening any links that ask for login information.
- If a message instructs you to call a number … don’t!
- If you think you’ve received a fraudulent text or call, contact your wireless carrier or the institution the person on the other end claims to represent. From there, you can see if you’re being scammed.
© Good Sense Security — December 2019