Smishing attacks and their impact

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) raised an alert to warn Americans about the increasing danger in smishing (robotexts) attacks that aim for stealing personal information or are used in financial scams. FCC says that Robocall Response Team is alerting consumers to the rising threat of robotexts. 

How are Smishing attacks carried out?

Hackers use various tricks to lure victims into giving out their personal information or sending the hacker money. Sometimes the hackers use SMS that contains incorrect but very real information about unpaid bills, order delivery status, bank account issues, etc. 

According to FCC "consumers who have filed complaints with the FCC say some of the texts resemble email spam, with links to unwanted and unsolicited products. But many of the texts appear to be ploys to steal valuable personal or financial information." 

In a few cases, the data that is collected from these smishing campaigns are used in the future for other malicious purposes. The alert warns American users to not respond to or open any links they see in their inbox. The warning came out after various users registered complaints about unwanted SMS, which in recent times, have increased from 5700 in 2019, 14,000 in 2020, 15,300 in 2021, to 8,500 by June 2020.

How to protect yourself against smishing attacks, according to FCC-

• Avoid responding to malicious texts, don't click "STOP" if the SMS asks you not to receive messages.
• Never click on links.
• Never give information either through SMS or a website.
• File a complaint if the suspicious text is received.
• Delete all suspicious SMS.
• Keep your device and OS updated.
• Use antivirus software if needed.
• Go through company policies related to opting out of text alerts, or sharing useful info.