Watch Out, Texters: You May Get “Smished”

NBC 10 Investigators discover a new way scammers are trying to rob you

As technology changes, scammers find new ways to target your personal information.

The NBC10 Investigators discovered this new scam when producer Ed Dress received a text message: “Your credit union account has been temporarily locked. Call at 815-768-2276.”

“Oh my God,” said Dress. After a couple of seconds, Dress realized, “Wait, I don’t have a credit union account.” 

When people receive scam e-mails attempting to uncover personal information it’s called phishing.  When the scammers try to do the same through text messaging, it’s SMiShing.

This scam uses cell phone SMS (Simple Message Service) text messaging services to reach possible victims.  The “SMiShers” want you to reply by text message or a phone call to an automated system, telling you to enter your credit card number or other personal information.  Once they have that, they’ve hit the jackpot.  They can open credit card accounts and buy whatever they want without you even knowing--until you get the bill!

Dr. Rob D’Ovidio, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Drexel University, is a consultant to law enforcement. He’s studied scams like SMiShing. SMiShers prey on the fact that people often panic when they think there’s a problem with their financial accounts.

Get this: scammers aren’t only using your information for themselves. They could be selling it for big bucks online.

“Those people who collect the information will then go and sell it on the black market,” said D’Ovidio.

D’Ovidio explained this danger isn’t new and that people are more likely respond to SmiShing texts because they look like messages from creditable institutions that they generally trust.

“People are more likely to fall victim to text based phishing scams as opposed to more traditional scams,” said D’Ovidio. 

Most people are aware of e-mail phishing, but the masterminds behind the SMiShing scams are taking advantage of the newer text message technology.

Consumers have been educated by financial institutions, and online service providers alerting them not to respond to emails. But this education has not yet reached the consumers about text messaging.

Dress did not respond to the text but wondered how they could have gotten his cell phone number. D’Ovidio said scammers can randomly generate phone numbers and will text or call anyone with an active account.  Once they know there’s someone on the other end, they’ll keep trying to contact you and rip you off. 

So what should you do if you get one of these SMiShing texts?

Check out these tips from the American Bankers Association spokesman, Margot Mohsberg:
 

  • Never give out financial information in response to an unsolicited text, no matter how official it may seem. If you are uncertain, call your financial institution or the organization that is purportedly contacting you using a phone number you know is safe. 
  • If you have already responded to this type of text by providing financial information, contact your financial institution immediately to protect your account;
  •  Inform the ABA about texts that use ABA’s name by sending an email to alert@aba.com.
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