There has been an 86% year-over-year surge in U.S. adults targeted by phone, email and text scams, and text scams have flourished.
A CNET report says 82% of Americans now get at least one scam text per week, over half report say they get at least three per week, and 13% report getting 10 or more text spams per week.
Those spammers need your phone number to text you and chances are you have given it to them. When you make an online purchase, open an account or sign up for something like a podcast, one of the bits of personal information you willingly provide is your phone number. It may be best to skip the field that asks for a phone number.
“Say it is a retailer. Then just don’t put in your phone number. Maybe opt for just your email,” said Dashia Milden, consumer insights editor at CNET. “You could now get scam emails. But just being mindful of how your phone number could be used. If your phone number is already out there, there is a chance that this will be an issue, or one that could be ongoing.”
One way we can all try to stem the flow of spam texts is to report them. Reporting texts as junk or spam is usually an option, and wireless carriers keep a database of known malicious numbers, which could lock them out of future attempts to text spam others.
“Report it as junk or spam. Block the number immediately. Of course that’s not going to stop other numbers from texting. But every time you get those types of messages, just block them. Don’t call to figure out who it is. Mark it as junk,” Milden said.
The most common text spams involve money and the urgency for you to pay, such as toll road fees, traffic citations or overdue bills. A link to make those payments is even conveniently embedded in the text.
“These are ones that are very, very common. The reason being is because you have to think urgency and money. You want to pay it to avoid a consequence. You have to think and slow down, and think, is this something that is real?” Milden said.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. consumers reported combined losses of $470 million just to text scams last year, and that is just losses that were reported.
Among more curious text spams are ones that just say, “How’ve you been?” or even just, “Hi.” You don’t recognize the number and it’s the first text you’ve ever received from that number. You may be tempted to play along and respond, knowing it’s fake but just to see where it goes. Milden said even that is a risk.
“It is absolutely. And here’s the thing. They now know it is an active number. What’s the next step they make take, we don’t know. Someone from another number may then call you. That could lead to your voice being cloned. There could also be a number of tactics that could be used in terms of how they can access you even more with just you phone number,” Milden said.
Text spams, along with email and phone call spams, are incredibly common, with 96% of U.S. adults getting them. CNET said while social media spams are less common overall, they are harder to spot because scammers use social media to learn about your interests, friends and behavior, making them more convincingly personal.
CNET’s full report on text, phone and social media scams is online, along with tips on how to avoid them.
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