Scammers are taking advantage of fears surrounding the coronavirus. They’re not only setting up websites and social media posts to sell bogus products, but also using fake text messages.
People across United States are receiving messages with a warning: the coronavirus has appeared in your neighbourhood and you should take immediate action to protect yourself.
At least that’s what they’re trying to convince you about. However, the truth is different.
In fact, what are they really after are your money and your personal information. Because once you click the malicious link in their text message, you’ll download a malware to your phone.
How to protect yourself?
The tactics they’re using is called smishing (a combination of words “SMS” and “phishing”). With this tactics, scammers are trying to convince you to click a malicious link in a text messages.
How to avoid this scam? Here’s what to do step by step:
1. Don’t reply to the text message
Even if the text message says “text ‘stop’ to stop receiving messages,” never reply. Replying may actually result in more messages getting to your phone.
2. Don’t click any links in the message
Even though smishing is usually a game of emotional manipulation, don’t let yourself trick into clicking to anything. Because there’s a good chance that if you click on a phishing link, your mobile device will get infected.
3. Get a free SMS and spam blocker
This is the easiest way how to avoid phone and SMS spam. Here’s how you do that.