With around 5 billion people around the world open to receiving and sending SMS messages, accessibility and connectivity are open to both good and bad intentions. Malicious parties like scammers often take advantage of times of crises or prey on lesser-informed individuals through the use of SMS scams.
Common tactics include posing as a family member in an emergency to ask for money or as a corporation offering refunds, parcel deliveries, or tech support scams. The best way to avoid being fooled is to pay attention to the warning signs: unverified or unusual numbers, spelling and grammar mistakes, alerts for things you didn’t sign up for.
At the end of the day, you can protect yourself by doing your research, and ignoring and blocking numbers if things seem off. By being aware of how these frauds work, it becomes easier to identify a possible scam and avoid falling into their trap.
Infographic Source: https://blog.semaphore.co/2020/05/25/identify-avoid-sms-scams/