BBB Tip of the Week: Smishing
Are you vulnerable to smishing attacks? You are if you have a smartphone and use texting. Smishing is like phishing, but instead of using email, perpetrators send you a text message in an attempt to gather your personal or financial information or use your phone for malicious attacks on others.
In smishing, scammers use text messages to send links to websites that download malware on your phone or email addresses that prompt you to fall into a social engineering scam, or just to elicit a response in order to gain your trust and your money.
In one example, the text message says that it is verifying that you signed up for a premium monthly service charged to your monthly phone bill unless you click the website link. In another example, a text informs that you’ve been chosen to manage a multimillion dollar charity project and will be rewarded for your work if you respond to an email address.
Of course criminals get creative, so you can count on different smishing tactics to arise. Better Business Bureau offers the following tips to avoid smishing attempts:
To report scams to BBB, visit www.bbb.org/scamtracker or call (509) 455-4200.