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Chances are you’re familiar with the next type of phishing attack in our series. It covers those annoying, spammy texts blowing up your phone more and more frequently. They tend to spike during natural disasters or events like the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

Smishing, or SMS-enabled phishing, uses text messaging as a method for delivering malicious links, often in the form of short codes, to ensnare smartphone users in their scams.

Did You Know: SMS open rates hover around 98%. Compare that to around 20% for email, and it’s clear why impatient cyber criminals like smishing.

 

Spotting a Smishing Attack

Be on the Lookout: Smishing attacks often start something like:

  • "CBD has been proven to cause pain relief! Find out more."
  • "Changes were recently made to your Verizon account. Log in to configure your settings."
  • "You've won a $110 gift card!!! Click the link to redeem."

Download the 11 Types of Phishing eBook

Great examples of Smishing.  I recently received a message that a 6 digit code is what I require to login to Facebook to reset my password, but I never initiated a request to reset the password as it is very secure and known only to me.  Happily ignored that scammer.


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