NEW YORK–Authorities are warning consumers that financial scams using text messages purporting to be from financial institutions continue to grow in number and sophistication.
Many people are reporting they have been receiving messages claiming to be from some of the nation’s largest banks that are similar to this: “Freemsg: Chase, Did you attempt wire transfer amount of $7500. Reply Y if recognized, Or NO to stop fraud.”
Larger credit unions have also seen their members targeted by similar text messages.
The fraud, well-known as “smishing,” short for SMS phishing, isn’t new. But the sophistication of the messages and just how authentic they appear to be are.
‘Almost Impossible’
It “can be almost impossible to tell from the real thing,” the Guardian reported. “While phishing texts have been around for years, data shows they are on the rise. In 2022 US phone users got 157 (billion) robotexts, or more than 440 a person – an 80% increase from 2021, according to the company Robokiller, which offers a scam-blocking service for cellphones. And last year, more than 321,000 Americans reported having fallen for a phone-based smishing scam, with total losses of over $326 million, according to data from the US Federal Trade Commission.”
The text scam issue has become so widespread the FCC has demanded that mobile phone companies start blocking spam texts as its first of several planned steps to combat the rampant phone fraud.
‘Creative’ Approaches
The Guardian report covered the variety of “creative approaches to try to trick people out of their money” that credit unions will want to caution their members about.
“Some pretend to offer jobs, only to ensnare people into transferring money out of their bank accounts for job supplies,” the report stated. “Others pretend to be contacting the wrong person in the hopes of striking up a conversation, which may then lead to long exchanges that get the phone user to open their wallet. Another common scam involves gleaning the name of a person’s boss from a directory or website, then impersonating that boss and asking for a favor that involves purchasing gift cards. The scammer then asks for photos of the back of the gift cards, saying they’re needed for reimbursement. This, in turn, allows the thieves to cash the cards and make off with the funds.”
Many scam texts pretend to be from a familiar company, like Amazon, UPS or a popular bank, the Guardian added.
Duplicating 800 Numbers
Making the scams seem legitimate is that when scammers call they use phone numbers that seem to be exact matches for the 800 numbers on the back of plastic cards, and then when on the phone with the victim they send even more messages indicating more unauthorized wire transfers are taking place and action must be taken.
When the scam “fraud officer” gets the consumer to change their security credentials, they then are able to empty the account.
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