Texts to Test Your Loyalty and Security!
Imagine this scenario. It’s just a normal busy work day and you receive a text message to your personal cell phone from your supervisor or other administrator asking for assistance with something only you can help with! Or, so it seems. Text scams like the one pictured on the right, also known as smishing, are trending frequently these days and can easily get users to engage in the conversation and potentially participate in the scam they’re attempting.
When receiving texts from numbers not listed in your contacts, a good practice is to verify the identity of the sender before replying. If you don’t recognize the number or are unable to verify the sender without replying to them, it’s best to be safe and not reply. Also, know that it is highly unprofessional for an organization to use text messaging to ask an employee to purchase items or provide private or security details outside of the organization’s established methods for requesting this kind of information. These texts should immediately be questioned and verified via different methods of communication.
It’s also good to know that law enforcement will not follow through on these attempted scams unless they successfully steal a significant amount of money through the scam. If you encounter similar texts, the best practice is to not reply, block the sender from calling or texting you, and simply think twice before replying to any texts you aren’t sure about.
Here are a few great tips to spot fraud shared from the University of Georgetown’s University Information Security Office.
Unexpected: these will come from unknown senders with unexpected offers, information, or demands that seem out of place
Disguised: hover over email link to see if they seem irregular or point you to a different site than what you’re expecting
Seeking personal Information: be suspicious of unexpected or unknown sources demanding personal information, passwords or payments
Urgency: be suspicious of messages that create a sense of urgency or fear
Incorrect: fraudulent messages will often contain spelling, grammar and language errors because they may originate from bad actors abroad
