As soon as I sat down to write this, I got a text that simply said, “Hello”. In another era, I can be intrigued by the mysterious message from an unknown number. Maybe I would have been curious about who meant greeting, and texted again. But this is not my first time playing this game.
Fraud texts are a growing multibillion dollar industry. While robocalls become less common – thanks, in part, for a 2009 law that forced telephone companies to do more to stop them – text fraud complaints increased 500 percent from 2015 to 2022. It is difficult to nail an exact number of spam messages sent on a given day, the problem is deteriorating. It’s not just that you are being bombarded with more text frauds than ever. Texts have also begun to become really sophisticated.
I mean I never clicked on a link in a spam text, but I would lie. Maybe it’s about an issue with a mysterious package or an unpaid parking ticket or anything political – it doesn’t really matter. With so many of our personal data that now appears online and with the help of it, text frauds are becoming smarter, more targeted and more dangerous. The software we need to stop spam texts is being overcome by the software used to generate them, which does not do well for our ever -developing relationships with technology.
So this is the bad news and the worst news. The good news is that people are, so far, smarter than cars. With a combination of brain and software, you can reduce your exposure to text frauds or, at least, your chances of becoming actually a victim of a fraud.
Robocalls don’t look so bad in retrospect
Another text trick I received this week included an unpaid suspected number, with a connection to pay and a friendly signature (“The Toll Roads team wishes you a great day!”). As it happens, I probably owe someone money for an unpaid number, but it’s not the “Toll Roads team”. Connection in the text, which ended in “. World”, was the largest red flag. I didn’t click this link, but if the text would be more personalized – maybe using my name or mentioning that the fee was in the New York state, where I live – maybe I would have.
Here we are going. Common frauds, such as those involving unpaid fine, job recruiters, IRS and unwanted packages, can become more dangerous exponents if they include your personal details, including your email and home address. And years after data violations, an increasing amount of data for you is available to fraudsters to promote. Meanwhile, that generator makes it easy for bad actors to create compelling messages, without pressing on a massive scale. Sometimes all you have to do is read the text to give the deceiver more lever.
Common fraud, such as those involving unpaid fine, job recruiters, IRS and unwanted packages, can become more dangerous exponential if they include your personal details.
“Depending on what your bills are read, then the bad guy may know you opened the text,” Teresa Murray, a consumer supervisor at the US Pirg Education fund, told me. “And then, God save us, if you click on a link or anything like that, or call the number in the text, then it is in the competition.”
There are many ways for fraudsters to win here. If you click on a connection, you can be cheated by giving them money or cheated to give up more personal information, which is its own currency in the deception market. Many text frauds are also phishing schemes, and links point to a website designed to steal your input credentials. At best, the click of the connection proves to the bad actors that you are alive and ready to go with the scheme.
The total amount of money lost by the phone fraudsters in 2024 was over $ 25 billion, which operates with an average of about $ 450 per victim. Older adults are actually less likely to fall for certain frauds, mainly because they have learned not to receive their phones. The vast majority of Americans over 65 say they do not respond if they do not know the number, and 57 percent of the same group have placed their names in national do not call the register – a database run by the Federal Commission of 2003 – according to a recent report from the TrueCaller call block service.
Young Americans have it worse. The same report revealed that people between the ages of 18 and 44 are three times more likely that older Americans fall for telephone fraud, including spam’s texts, and 25 percent of this group reported that they are victims more than once . Only 30 percent of them say they are in the non -call register.
What can and cannot do to escape the fraud of the text
Because it was created to stop the unwanted calls from telemarketers, the non -call register does not do much to cut the spam texts. Moreover, many of those texts come from outside, and without an international telephone policeman patrolling lines, a fraud that runs a SIM farm in Southeast Asia can blow up your phone with notifications of unworthy packages of heart content them.
SIM farms, also known as telephone farms or SIM bank, are systems equipped with numerous SIM cards that can send a large number of texts or calls to the country at the same time, and cost only a few hundred dollars to decide. It is practically free for fraudsters to earn telephone numbers, and unlike robocalls, which occur in real time, spam texts are sent in large bundles in a separate second. If a block number is blocked, the fraudster may begin to use a new number and continue spamming. Now, they can also use the generator to create more convincing, personalized messages.
Meanwhile, telephone companies face fewer regulatory requirements to protect their customers from these spam texts. The tracked act, which was implemented in 2021, gave to the Federal Commission of Communication Commission (FCC) to prevent robocalls, including a Caller Verification Framework called Stir/Shaken. But it was not until 2024 that FCC approved its first rule specifically aiming for spam texts.
You will think that stopping spam texts should be easy enough to use a spam filter, as email providers have done for decades. But text messages are not as sophisticated as e -mail technology. Basic technology – SMS, or short messaging service – dates back to the 1980s and is not difficult to be safe.
“SMS lacks integrated security controls, such as the Protocols of Email Certificate” Adam Meyers, head of opponent operations against the opponent at the Internet Crowdstrike online security firm, explained in an email. “While telephone carriers and software manufacturers apply filters and blocking mechanisms, opponents constantly evolve their tactics.”
The challenge is to filter unwanted messages, without blocking the legitimate ones. It means distinguishing texts from your friends, your bank, your DODordash driver, or your new friend who is not yet on your spam’s contact list.
Many companies and organizations also submit legitimate wholesale messages, using short codes- five or six-digit numbers that need to be registered in CTIA, the Wireless Industry Commercial Association, which also regulates how people can interact with these texts.
Pros tip: Don’t delete trusted messages
You probably get thousands of automated messages from reliable sources, such as your pharmacy, bank or food delivery service. This also includes verification codes if you use your two -factor telephone number, as well as short codes, including political campaigns.
Do not delete these messages immediately. This way, if you receive a new message from a reliable source, it is likely to appear in the same thread and save you stress to ask yourself if it is the real deal. “Even better: go forward and put a label on it, put it in your contacts,” said Teresa Murray and Pirg. “And then if you get what looks like a verification code from Xyz Bank, but it doesn’t come from the stored contact, then this can be a red flag for you.”
Unfortunately, fraudsters don’t care much about laws or rules, and telephone companies will do so much to fight the endless stream of spam texts. It costs money to build filters that can try to continue with scammers methods, and some carriers include those vehicles in their service cost. Others charge for better tools. Verizon, for example, offers free basic filters, and “Plus” filters for an additional $ 4 per month.
“Workshop real work to do that. There is a significant amount of analysis, “Alex Quilici, CEO of call blocking service, Yumail told me,” I’m charming, but carriers have a very difficult problem. “
When it comes to avoiding text fraud, you can. Apart from whatever your carrier offers, there are applications like Truecaller, Textkiller, Robociller and Hiya.
I’ve never paid for one of these services, so I can’t say how well they work. I can say that not answering your phone continues to be a strong way to avoid robocalors – and a great way to lose a call from your doctor’s office. Caller ID can be easily destroyed, so don’t get if you don’t expect a call. If you suspect, pass the call and call the right number again.
You can also report fraudulent FCC by following the message to 7726, which pronounces spam, or file a complaint on the agency’s website. You can report all types of fraud to FTC or the Prosecutor General of your state.
The most important thing to do is not engage with the fraudsters. Even if they are saying “hi” and look friendly, answering or even reading a spam text simply tells the bad actor that you are a real man and a target. For now, know that you are smarter than him, and ignore him.
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