They’ll claim your account numbers have been compromised or that you’re going to be charged a huge fee if you don’t respond. Scam text messages almost always use a form of social engineering to bypass your defenses. It creates a sense of urgency to get you to act.Scammers will often claim to be from your bank, a service you use, or a government agency like the FBI or IRS to build trust. It claims to be from a company you know and trust.Scammers know you probably don’t know Netflix’s phone number by heart, but that you’re also unlikely to look it up before responding to a text. It uses a realistic yet random phone number.Though difficult to initially spot, the text above contains several signs of a scam: Example: A Fake Netflix Text Message That Almost WorkedĪ fake Netflix text message that uses urgency to trick users into clicking a link. If you’re at all suspicious about a text message you just received, read this guide before you respond, click on any links, or take action. īut while some fake text messages and spam texts are easy to spot, fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated with their scams. Last year, there was a record 58% increase in spam text messages - with scammers sending over 87 billion texts and fleecing their victims out of more than $10 billion. It was only after the call immediately disconnected that she realized what had really happened - she had been caught by a text message scam. So she didn’t hesitate when a robotic voice asked her to “verify” her identity by entering her credit card number, Social Security number (SSN), and birthday. Īs a former victim of identity theft, Alyssa knew she had to act quickly to stop scammers. When Alyssa Beckwith received a fraud alert text from Wells Fargo about a suspicious $240 ATM withdrawal, she immediately called the number in the message. Did You Just Receive a Scam or Spam Text?
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