Our cell phones have become the single-most used device in our everyday life. While this provides us with great conveniences, it also creates an opportunity for scammers to gain access to personal information.
Smishing is the fraudulent practice of sending text messages appearing to be from reputable companies in order to influence individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. It is the SMS version of phishing scams (SMS is an abbreviation of Short Message Service, which is a fancy name for a text message). In this case, however, instead of an email, you get a text message on your smartphone.
While smishing is not a new method of cyberattack, it is still relatively unknown and unexpected by users. A recent study showed that while 61% of users are aware of what phishing is, only 30% know about smishing techniques.
An SMS phishing scheme could pretend to be from your bank and ask you to enter your social security number. Or, it could impersonate another legitimate organization trying to trick the user into either downloading a fraudulent app or opening a link to a password-stealing or fraud-inducing website.
Some very common types of smishing messages include:
- Fake shipping notifications
- Tech support impersonation
- Phony bank account balance warnings
- Counterfeit customer service notices
- Prize notifications for made-up rewards
- Bogus Covid-19 contact tracing messages
Ways to protect yourself
- Never respond to a text or click a link form an unknown source.
- Never share personal or financial information.
- Delete text messages from unknown sources.
Be aware that Valencia College will not ask you for personal information via a text message.