Protect Your Phone From This New Type of Phishing Attack
Now is the time to educate yourself.
In the chaotic economic and physical landscape of 2020, the last thing any individual should have to contend with is being taken advantage of when vulnerable. Nonetheless, scammers are still looking for loopholes to victimize the innocent. Their newest tactic is a scam call “smishing.”
What is smishing? How does one become educated and protected, and how can you be proactive for the next scam?
Smishing is the practice of sending fraudulent text messages purporting to be from reputable companies to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. Smishing is basically a “phishing” scam involving the exchange of text messages or SMS messages.
Common platforms and applications that the hacker might use include a built-in smartphone messenger, iMessage, Facetime, Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, Skype and other face-to-face mobile vehicles.
Sadly, this is quickly becoming an increasingly popular and successful means of deception. Smishing is especially confusing as people often believe their cell phones are safe from hackers and scammers. Junk text messages were a rarity in years past. Nowadays such texts are common, and many businesses, including doctors, routinely text individuals to confirm appointments or prescription refills.
Due to the newer nature of this scam, and lack of education about its pathway from spam to private information, many consumers, especially those more at risk, such as the elderly, or those without internet access, are prime targets.
In prior years, there was a massive effort to educate the public about not clicking on random links in their email, and that became extremely successful. Nonetheless, criminals are finding a new path, and that is through the technology that is closest to them — cell phones.
Now is the time to educate yourself on how to differentiate spam and phishing text messages from important communication. When receiving a text message from an unknown source, here are four things to think about before responding:
- If it seems too good to be true, then it is! If you receive a generous coupon code from a place you have never heard of or an amazing incentive from a popular brand like Target, McDonald’s, Nike or others, don’t respond. Instead, check a website from the company or call the main phone number to see if the offer is legit. Don’t call a number on the text message, and never respond to an offer by texting personal information.
- Time sensitivity. If you receive a text asking for personal information to fulfill a medical or business request, and they need it ASAP, it’s a scam. A reputable company, medical office or organization is going to pick up the phone and call an individual, not text.
- Long text messages from unknown sources, including a link, are also a good indication of smishing, or phone phishing schemes. Never, click on a link from an unknown source. The link can immediately allow phishers access to confidential and valuable information from your phone. Be vigilant for text messages asking for personal information, passwords or other sensitive information.
- Does the text message have grammatical errors or strange sentence structure? While many people use talk-to-text, it would never be a means of communication for a business to connect with a customer. Another red flag is when the pronoun to your name such as Ms., Mrs., Mr., Dr., etc., is incorrect or even used at all from a stranger. Don’t respond to these messages.
What to do once smished? Delete! And if necessary, block the sender. If you are truly questioning whether a text is legit, try logging onto the internet from a different device to do some investigative work. Bottom line: You do not want to compromise the security of your personal information to anyone via text.