It’s not just you. There are more bogus text messages now than ever before, and it’s expected to get worse. As more action is taken by wireless carriers and government agencies to fight spam in robocalls and e-mail, the scammers are getting creative and turning to text messages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These text tricks are always made up of the same ingredients: Trusted Company Name + Urgent Problem! + Link. As you can guess, clicking the link on a fake problem can lead to real problems: potential malware, stolen login credentials and compromised credit cards. Spammers pray on panic to make you think you need to quickly click a link to solve an urgent issue or act quick to redeem a prize, hoping you don’t pause to see the clues that show why the message or website it directs you to may not be real.<\/p>\n
Turn to Twitter and you’ll find a constant flow of these gripes: Texts posing as ATT, referring to a bill payment<\/a>, or reimbursement<\/a> or free perk<\/a>. “Chase” texts warn of accounts being locked out<\/a>. “FedEx” alerts for an incomplete delivery<\/a>. “Walmart” alerts on an order you never made<\/a>.<\/p>\n A spam text link can send folks to look-alike websites, where victims may be fooled into sharing login credentials or credit card numbers \u2014 or get caught up in downloading malware. Sometimes these links offer freebies or financial help. (Pro tip: You can’t win a contest you never entered.)<\/p>\n And Americans are expected to get more spam texts than spam calls this year \u2014 as many as 86 billion spam texts,\u00a0according to a report<\/a> from the company behind the RoboKiller spam-fighting app.\u00a0<\/p>\n Below are some general tips on what to do — and what not<\/em> to do — when you receive a spam text. <\/p>\n Scammers are tricky. They’ll send messages that appear to be from a legitimate company, such as your wireless carrier, bank or medical facility, and include a link asking you to verify your account information. The link then takes you to a site that may look real, but is actually fake. The object is to collect your username, password and other personal information for future use.\u00a0 <\/p>\n If you receive an unexpected message that includes a link, do not open it. If you happen to open it, do not enter any account details or personal information.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Look at this fake Verizon site that was being used in phishing attempts, as covered by How To Geek<\/a>. The site looks real and even redirects to the official Verizon site after the nefarious actors have taken your account credentials. Scary stuff.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Don’t click on links in spam messages, and do some research before replying ‘stop.’<\/p>\n <\/span> One common method of opting out of receiving non-nefarious spam texts (like that restaurant offering the free milkshake) is to reply to the message with “STOP.” It can be a quick and easy way to end messages from everything from a political campaign to your internet service provider.\u00a0 <\/p>\n But scammers use this same tool to trick you into replying to their messages, in turn letting them know that your phone number is valid and one they can target with more messages or robocalls.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Instead of quickly replying STOP to an unsolicited message, take a few seconds to look up the number online to see if a recognized organization or business uses it for text messages.\u00a0 <\/p>\n I verified Comcast’s number, for example, by searching for “text from 266278” after receiving a message a few weeks ago asking if I wanted updates about an outage in my area. Indeed, the number I received the message from matched<\/a> a number Comcast lists on its support page.\u00a0 <\/p>\n If you verify that a number is valid, reply with STOP to remove yourself from their distribution list.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Report scam messages to your carrier.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span> If you can’t verify who sent a message, or it’s clearly a scam, you can forward the message to 7726 (it spells “spam” on a phone’s keypad).\u00a0 <\/p>\n ATT, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon all accept spam reports through this number. You may receive a follow-up message after reporting a message, asking for more information or to confirm the number the original message was sent from.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \t \tDon’t open any links <\/h2>\n
\n Jason Cipriani\/CNET
\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \t \tDo research before replying with STOP<\/h2>\n
\n Jason Cipriani\/CNET
\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \t \tReport a bad message to your carrier <\/h2>\n