Back in April of 2022, the FBI released an official warning related to a recently discovered smishing campaign. Smishing is the practice of sending fraudulent messages via text messages that appear to be sent from a real, reputable company. These messages are sent by scammers in order to trick you into handing over sensitive information like log in information or credit card numbers. In 2022, the FBI uncovered a smishing campaign in which scammers targeted victims in the US with fake bank fraud notifications. In the notification texts, they ‘informed’ their victims that someone had been trying to transfer money out of their account. Once the victim was convinced, the scammer called the victim pretending to be a customer service representative from their bank’s fraud department, another common phishing tactic known as vishing. They were even able to disguise their phone number as the company’s actual support phone number.
The scammer then walked the victim through ‘reversing’ the transfer, which ultimately allowed the scammer to collect the information they needed from the victim. After this scam was unveiled, the FBI provided a few pieces of advice to help avoid falling for similar scams: be wary of unsolicited requests from companies, and instead of interacting with the suspicious message, contact that institution separately through a trusted, official email address or phone number. They also suggest that everyone enable two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) on their accounts and to never give out information to a person that has not been verified as trustworthy.
Another more recent campaign has been identified that sends fraudulent package tracking text messages which prompted USPS to issue an official warning just earlier this month. Of course, with the holiday season in full swing and people shopping online for gifts, decorations, and more, these scammers have decided to pose as package tracking systems in order to lure in their victims. In their warning message, USPS warned people not to interact with unsolicited messages about packages, especially ones that say that USPS needs a quick response. They state that USPS will never send customers unprompted text messages with tracking information, and that their messages will never contain links. They also suggest that if you do receive a message that appears to be a smishing attempt, report it to them as well as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and/or the FBI.
It is important to be wary of any unprompted, unknown message that you receive, not only via text messaging, but also through any other method of online communication. Phishing comes in many shapes and sizes and can often be hard to identify as fraudulent, so it is important to always be suspicious.
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