How to Identify a Fake Text Message<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Protecting Yourself from Scam Texts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n What to Do if You Receive a Phishing Text\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Marketing companies really, really love text messaging these days.\u00a0 Why? Well, largely because almost all of us open a text \u2014 98 percent, compared to 20 percent for marketing emails<\/a> \u2014 and about 45 percent of us will respond, compared to 6 percent for emails.\u00a0 The numbers vary slightly, depending on whose research you\u2019re looking at, but overall they\u2019re very consistent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s also excellent news for scammers.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gotten pretty good at recognizing email phishing scams<\/a> for the most part (so yay, us!), and most of us know to be wary of links in emails, but we haven\u2019t yet grown the same kind of mental armor where texts are concerned.\u00a0 In fact, our immediate response to incoming texts is usually curiosity<\/a>, as opposed to the eye-roll that often greets an incoming email.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That creates a world of possibilities for scammers, especially given that legitimate organizations are also constantly testing new ways to interact with us by phone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When everybody and their proverbial dog is texting you with offers, updates, and information, how can you know what\u2019s real and what\u2019s dangerous? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, there are often tell-tale signs that betray a fake text message. Let\u2019s take a look at some of the big ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Phishing messages, by their nature, are seldom targeted to you individually (it does<\/em> happen, but it\u2019s rare).\u00a0 Instead they\u2019re sent out scattershot to thousands of people, on the basis that somebody\u2019s bound to fall for it sooner or later.\u00a0 This means that they\u2019re often not applicable to you:\u00a0 a message about your Apple account<\/a>, perhaps, when you\u2019re an Android and Windows user.\u00a0 Those ones are easy to catch, and so are the ones that clearly know nothing about you (maybe a cat food offer, when you\u2019re hideously allergic to pet dander and can\u2019t have one).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes it\u2019s trickier, though.\u00a0 If you got a \u201cdelivery failure notice<\/a>\u201d from the USPS you might click on it, just to see what\u2019s going on, even if you weren\u2019t expecting a package.\u00a0 And if you received an authentication code for logging into one of your sites, when you\u2019re not logging in personally, you might think someone was trying to hack your account.\u00a0 In that case, randomness is actually the feature that drives the scam.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a hallmark of just about every scam since the dawn of time. There\u2019s always, always a hugely urgent reason for you to act immediately. Depending on the scam, it may come in the form of a carrot \u2014 a time-limited flash sale, a prize for the first handful to respond, etc. Or, it may come in the form of a stick \u2014 \u201cto avoid suspension of your account,\u201d \u201cif you did not request this password change,\u201d \u201cwe have detected suspicious activity on your credit card\u201d \u2014 to ensure that you react quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The psychology is simple; if we have to make a snap decision it\u2019s more likely to be a wrong one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sadly greed (and the desire to get something for nothing) is a fundamental part of human nature, and all of us have at least a small streak of it in our makeup. Scammers know this, and appeal to it pretty regularly. Fake marketing messages with ridiculous markdowns are a common ploy, for example (no, you aren\u2019t getting Louis Vuitton or a PS5 at that price). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those messages telling you you\u2019ve won a contest you don\u2019t remember entering are in the same category, and so is the \u201cfree gift just for responding.\u201d Like grandma said, if it\u2019s too good to be true, it probably is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We all have \u201cthat one friend\u201d whose spelling is hopeless and whose texts come out sounding like Yoda after too many drinks. And that\u2019s fine coming from a friend, but not in a text that supposedly comes from a legitimate business, financial institution, or maybe even a government agency. In those cases, it\u2019s a clear red flag that your text has been composed by a non-native English speaker, or possibly crudely auto-translated from another language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The rise of AI tools means that over the next few years, most scammers will be able to craft a persuasive message without knowing any English at all. Even so, not all scammers have access to AI tools, and the tools themselves can spit out some clunky messages on occasion. The bottom line is that incoherent messages will remain a reliable warning sign for a while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a look at the numbers your last several (non-friend) texts have come from.\u00a0 A lot of the ones from businesses will show a 5- or 6-digit \u201cshort code,\u201d rather than a regular phone number.\u00a0 Those ones are usually fine:\u00a0 there\u2019s an organization that assigns them, and there\u2019s a verification process, so those are usually valid (and you can look them up<\/a>).\u00a0 You might get spammed from a short code, but probably not scammed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most other numbers will be in the familiar 10-digit format that\u2019s standard in the US, as you\u2019d expect from a sender that claims to be US-based. Occasionally you\u2019ll see numbers that are longer than 10 digits, or formatted differently. Those you can assume are probably scammers, unless you\u2019re legitimately dealing with overseas companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, some legitimate senders will include a link in their text, but they\u2019re a small percentage.\u00a0 Phishing messages, on the other hand, almost always<\/em> include a link.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to be a math whiz to figure out that the odds are in favor of any text message with a link in it being a scam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protecting yourself against phishing texts is a lot like protecting yourself against phishing emails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are just the starting points, of course.\u00a0 Another very useful tactic is to visit the sites of organizations you actually deal with on a regular basis, and look for the discussion of scams and phishing on their support pages.\u00a0 Frequently-impersonated businesses and government agencies including Amazon<\/a>, Netflix<\/a>, Paypal<\/a>, the IRS<\/a>, the SSA<\/a> and the USPS<\/a> all have pages that have spam text message examples or explain common scam messages, and tell you how to recognize them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are important, because knowing what the real organization will and won\u2019t do is a valuable tool in recognizing scams. If you already know that the IRS and USPS never<\/em> send unsolicited texts, for example, it\u2019s a no-brainer that the message you\u2019re looking at is bogus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The quickest, simplest response to a fake text is simply to block the sender, delete the text, and forget about it.\u00a0 Your phone and your carrier will offer several options for call\/text blocking (methods will vary, but they\u2019re easy to look up) and you can also install phone apps \u2014 including Spokeo\u2019s<\/a> \u2014 that provide varying degrees of screening and blocking for calls and texts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many companies and government agencies provide you the option of forwarding the suspect text or sending them a screenshot, so they\u2019ll have it on file.\u00a0 It\u2019s important for them to know which scams are making the rounds, and it may help others avoid the same scam.\u00a0 You should also consider reporting it to the FTC\u2019s Report Fraud<\/a> website or the FBI\u2019s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)<\/a>, for the same reasons.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Realistically it\u2019s not exactly news that the internet is full of scammers who are out to get you, and knowing that they\u2019re using text messages now doesn\u2019t change the equation a whole lot. There\u2019s no magic to text messages, no \u201csecret sauce\u201d that makes them especially dangerous. They work because people are less likely to be wary of a text than an email, period. So\u2026be wary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scammers have found that phishing texts can be more effective than emails. Learn how to identify a fake text message, and what to do about it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":27149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[612],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Scammers Have Turned to Text Messaging <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Identify a Fake Text Message<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. It Seems Weirdly Random<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. It Urgently Demands Action Right Now<\/em>!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. The Offer is Too Good to be True<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. The Language is\u2026 Off<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. The Phone Number May Not Be in the Right Format<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. There\u2019s a Link In It<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nProtecting Yourself from Scam Texts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What to Do if You Receive a Phishing Text <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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