[SCAM ALERT] Smishing is Getting Worse (what you need to know and do)

What is Smishing?

“Smishing” stands for “SMS phishing.” It’s a social-engineering technique that relies on text messages to dupe users into taking actions that reveal their sensitive personal information, or lure them to a rogue website that will trick them into handing over a credit card, or sneakily infect their phones with malware.

A smishing message includes the usual elements of a scam: the false appearance of a trusted sender; a message designed to grab your attention; and an urgent call to action that promises a reward or a solution to a problem. You’ll have much bigger, real problems if you perform the suggested action. Here's how a typical smishing scam goes down.

Ding! A text message arrives unexpectedly. The action requested may be a voice phone call to “account services” at your bank, Amazon, or another large company that most people know and trust. It may be a demand that you visit a website via a link provided in the message. Less often, it’s a request for a reply that leads to a text message dialogue with a scammer, or an automated bot that seems to be a person.

Whatever the action is, it leads to subtle requests for more and more information: Social Security Numbers, addresses, credit/debit card info, login credentials, etc. These are things that no legitimate company will ever ask you to provide or “verify” via text message, email, or over the phone.

Smishing has been around for many years, but recently there has been a surge of smishing attacks that has security experts sounding the alarm more loudly. The most recent Robokiller phone scam report notes that 78 billion robotexts were sent in the first half of 2023, an increase of 18% over the previous year. They estimate that consumers lose a in excess of $25 billion annually due to robotexts. So it’s important to be extra cautious with SMS messages.

Scammers are moving away from roboCALLing to roboTEXTing, while refining their evil craft with more aggressive and effective pitches. The FCC adopted rules to address the problem of scam texting in March of 2023, requiring mobile service providers to block robotext messages that are "highly likely to be illegal", but it will be some time before the details are hashed out and implemented.

Why is Smishing a Growing Concern?

The response rate of email phishing has fallen considerably, as more users become aware of the telltale signs of phishing and refuse to take the bait. But many people still trust their phones, and are unaware of the techniques that scammers can use. Another factor is that people are often distracted and on the move when they receive a text, and may respond without thinking.

A smishing message might include a warning purportedly from your bank, informing you of an unauthorized purchase, or some other company telling you that your account was frozen due to fraudulent activity. Another common one is the "You just won a prize (or gift card)" message. These scams may encourage you to call a phone number. Don't -- instead call the company (with a phone number you know is correct) and report the message to their security department. Or just chuckle, and delete it.

Bogus text messages that appear to be from FedEx include a tracking number and a request to "set up delivery preferences" for a package that's en route. Of course there's a link to click, which takes the unsuspecting to a page that (drumroll, please...) informs them that they've won a fabulous prize! All you have to do is complete a survey, and pony up your credit card to cover the shipping fee. That's where things get worse.

Both FedEx and UPS do offer customers the option to sign up for text message alerts about packages they have sent or received. That's why this particular smishing scam has credibility at first glance. Recently I've gotten a couple of texts purporting to alert me to high-dollar purchases on Amazon, and advising me to click a link to confirm. It was easy enough to check my Amazon account to see that no such purchase was made.

The cost of sending smishing messages is virtually zero, allowing more bad actors to get into the smishing game with ever-higher volumes of bogus messages. Some bad guys run SMS servers that they rent out to other bad guys, making smishing attacks as easy as writing a bogus message and clicking on a few options. These scam-as-a-service operators even provide bogus websites that look very much like those of familiar banks and other trusted companies.

There are no apps that detect smishing messages effectively. Verizon, AT&T and other mobile providers have the big-data advantage of seeing this flood of robotexts at the network level. With a bit of AI magic, it should be reasonably easy to identify and block the majority of them. Until that happens, it’s incumbent upon you to know the telltale signs of a scam and just refuse to go along with it. Never call a phone number in a text that purports to be your bank’s. Never click on a shortened URL in a text message; you have no idea where it will lead. Keep your mental guard up at all times.

If you're not sure who the sender of a text message is, my advice is to delete it and move on. Have you ever gotten a suspicious text message, or one that was just spam? Your thoughts on this topic are welcome. Post a comment or question below...