By Tom Lacock
As more of us catch on to scam calls to our smartphones and block them or don’t answer them, scammers have taken to texting. “Smishing” is the term of art: SMS + phishing.
Just as scammers phish by casting a wide net with email, so they do with smishing.
The same things that we suggest in order to avoid phishing attacks apply to smishing. But texts live in this space of immediacy – scammers know we are likely to respond much faster to a text than an email.
To thwart their efforts, take a pause and consider the message. Is this really my bank, or Amazon, or PayPal, or the IRS texting me?
Don’t click links – access the company or agency in a way you know to be safe and see if there’s an issue. Otherwise, don’t engage.
