Here’s why you should be more suspicious. This is a screenshot of a text message I got recently. I have to say that I’ve seen an increase in scam texts lately. Have you noticed that too?
Is this just a mistake? Or is ‘smishing’ a word for SMS phishing scams? If so, what about it makes me suspicious and should you be too?
An innocent seeming SMS/text message like this could be a scammer trying to engage you in a conversation. If you reply, you’ve just confirmed that your’s is an active phone number with someone at the other end who will respond by text. That gives the person, or more likely the program and company (more on that later) one box to check off on their spreadsheet of information that forms a profile about you. The logical next step would be to engage you in conversation where you reveal something further like your name or where you are located.
I looked up the phone number and found that it is registered to 2 businesses, which I presume to be call centers or data collection centers, both in the U.S., but 2 different owners, one purported to be from the Philippines, one Portugal as indicated by the URL ending. I don’t necessarily believe the company names are real, but it does give me an idea that this is most likely used for bulk scamming operations and/or data collection about U.S. citizens, and the number registered in Tennessee in order to make it seem more believable that your text message came from someone in the U.S.
I suggest you never engage with anyone by phone, text, social media apps or email unless you know who they are or are expecting to hear from them. When you do engage with a potential scammer over text, you are confirming that it is an active phone number, in the very least. Worst case scenario is that you get tricked into giving out info, or click on something that contains malware that infects your phone or computer. On this Verizon phone, I was able to “Report spam” and block the number.
We’ll be talking about cyber privacy and security in my upcoming class. You can find out more and register here. Or sign up for my informational newsletter (I don’t send out many) so that you can find out when the next class begins.
Cyber Marm 