warnings<\/a> to Canadians that scammers may be targeting them via text messaging.<\/p>\nThese fraudsters are leveraging artificial intelligence to target victims, Palumbo says. AI can mimic the style and language of a specific person, making the messages especially convincing and confusing for Canadians. Fraudsters are also becoming harder to catch because they use prepaid SIM cards to shield their identities, she adds.<\/p>\n
Sam-Pajot Phipps, CEO and co-founder of goConfirm, an identity verification platform, says he\u2019s seeing more smishing attempts tied to traffic, speeding and parking tickets, often with links to \u201cpay a fine.\u201d Other common scams include fake job applications or impersonations of subscription services like Netflix or Amazon, claiming there has been a log-in attempt and asking recipients to verify their credentials.<\/p>\n
Some messages are even more subtle, simply saying, \u201cHey, how are you?\u201d or \u201cIs this Julie? (or some other name)\u201d These are tactics to test whether a number is active and worth targeting again in the future, Phipps says. If recipients engage, the conversation can eventually lead to a request for money or personal information.<\/p>\n
Many texts use short codes, which are five- or six-digit numbers instead of the usual 10-digit phone number, he adds. While these short codes are legitimately used by trusted services, scammers can sometimes gain access to them, making their messages harder to detect as fraudulent.<\/p>\n
Fraudsters also \u201clean into that urgency on text messages to get people’s attention,\u201d Phipps says. For example, a text may say that a fine or bill needs to be paid within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
We’re too trusting by nature.Stephanie Corvese, senior manager for digital forensics and incident response, Doane Grant Thornton<\/p>\n
Story continues <\/p>\n
Canadians need to be more alert and suspicious, says Stephanie Corvese, senior manager for digital forensics and incident response at Doane Grant Thornton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re too trusting by nature,\u201d she said. \u201cThe advice I always give to everyone is don\u2019t be trusting anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pause before taking any action when you receive a message requesting it, Corvese says. If you google the phone number or message content, you\u2019ll often find that the number texting isn\u2019t associated with the organization it claims to be, and there may be subtle errors in the email address, if one is provided, she adds.<\/p>\n
If you receive a suspicious text message, remember that most legitimate organizations will never ask you to reveal personal information through email or text, Palumbo says. If you\u2019re unsure, contact the sender using a different, verified method.<\/p>\n
Palumbo advises Canadians to avoid clicking on any suspicious links. If something doesn\u2019t look right, don\u2019t click on it, she says. And, if you suspect a smishing attempt, don\u2019t reply. This includes ignoring texts that ask you to respond with \u201cSTOP\u201d or \u201cNO.\u201d Instead, block the number and delete the message.<\/p>\n
Users can also report spam texts by forwarding them to 7726 (SPAM), which helps cellular providers investigate further.<\/p>\n
“Remember that knowledge is the best shield to protect yourself, your family, and your friends from fraud of this kind,\u201d Palumbo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Smishing is a type of fraud in which scammers send text messages posing as businesses, government agencies or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,4191,43350,43351,5452,38398],"class_list":{"0":"post-68779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-canadians","12":"tag-competition-bureau","13":"tag-josephine-palumbo","14":"tag-text","15":"tag-text-messages"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}