Many companies now communicate with their customers using text messages. So it shouldn’t be that surprising that scammers increasingly used text messages to separate people from their money.
But there are ways to tell a legitimate text from a scam by being aware of these four red flags.
Unexpected messages
If you just started a service, the company may send you a text with important information. Because you just started service, the message is not unexpected.
But if you get an unexpected, unsolicited message from a “company,” watch out. It’s likely a scam. Examples include messages purporting to be from your bank saying there has been fraudulent activity in your account or messages claiming to be from a delivery company saying they can’t find you.
Suspicious links
An unsolicited message that asks you to click on a link is doubly suspicious. The sender either hopes to download malware onto your device or wants to send you to a website where you will be asked to enter sensitive personal information.
Grammatical errors
Many scammers are in other countries and don’t have a great command of the English language. Spelling and grammatical errors in an email that is supposed to be from a big company like Microsoft are a dead giveaway.
Unfortunately, with artificial intelligence platforms and translation software, you can’t really rely on this red flag as much as in the past.
Mistaken identity
Scam texts don’t always impersonate a company. Sometimes, they appear to be a confused, regular person.
For example, you might get a text that says “Hey Jack, I dreamed of you last night. How have you been?”
Fight the temptation to reply that you aren’t Jack. The scammer wants two things: to confirm that the number they texted has a live person on the other end, and to engage. They’re counting on lonely people eager to communicate with someone and perhaps, reveal information that could empty their bank account.