The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the highest intelligence authority in the U.S., has issued a public warning on March 6 to American residents about bogus text message scams targeting smartphone users.
This tactic, known as “smishing”— a portmanteau of “SMS” and “phishing” — targets people using text messages to trick people into giving out sensitive information.
The cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said via X: “A threat actor leveraging the same naming pattern has registered 10K+ domains for various #smishing scams. They pose as toll services for US states and package delivery services. Root domain names start with “com-” as a way to trick victims.”
https://x.com/Unit42_Intel/status/1898040009229267275
According to them, the domain names indicate pages impersonate services in at least 10 states — New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, as well as Ontario in Canada.
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The new announcement comes as a second iteration to the initial public service announcement (PSA) by FBI in April 2024, which also used the term “smishing,” regarding debt for road toll services.
While smishing is similar to phishing, the key difference between the two is that phishing usually occurs via email, and smishing via text messages.
A smishing scam text message will look like it came from an official company or business, for example, EZ tag, that will try to get the victim to click a fake hyperlink or call a fake phone number. If you click on a smishing link, it might take you to a fake website that looks identical to an official one and ask you to enter sensitive information, including passwords, credit card numbers and bank pin numbers, in order to steal that information.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a number of tips to avoid being scammed. It recommends that smartphone users avoid clicking on unexpected links, and check if the texts they receive are legit. It is also advised to report and delete unwanted text messages. “Use your phone’s “report junk” option to report unwanted texts to your messaging app or forward them to 7726 (SPAM). Once you’ve checked it out and reported it, delete the text,” FTC says.