State Farm Insurance is warning people to watch out for scams that may be sent to your smartphone. It’s called “smishing”. State Farm has tips for what to do, and what not to do, if your discover that your smartphone has been hit with this type of scam.
Many of us adore our smartphones. Whether it is an Android phone, or an iPhone, it is something that many people cannot do without. Just how often do Americans use their smartphones? The Pew Research and American Life Project found that mobile phone users send and receive, on average, about 40 text messages a day.
Some of those text messages are going to be from your family, friends, or co-workers. A few might be from the stores that you have allowed to send you texts about sales and offers. Within the mix, there could be some that are “smishing”.
What is “smishing”? Its is a new type of phishing scam. Dictionary.com defines phishing as:
to try to obtain financial or other confidential information from Internet users, typically by sending an e-mail that looks as if it is from a legitimate organization, usually a financial institution, but contains a link to a fake Web site that replicates the real one.
Therefore, “smishing” is phishing that is done over short message service (SMS). In other words, a scammer is sending you a text, instead of an email, in an effort to collect your important information. It may look as though it is coming from your bank, but it really is not from your bank at all.
State Farm has some advice about what to do to protect yourself from “smishing”. Go read their entire blog for full details. I will just toss in a few key points from it.
* Don’t click on links or downloaded apps that come from an unverified source. It could be a virus, or it may result in malware being installed on your smartphone (without your knowledge).
* Don’t read or open messages that come from unverified sources. If you don’t recognize the name or number, it obviously isn’t coming from a family member or your boss.
* Don’t ever give out your personal information to a stranger through a text message. You wouldn’t hand a stranger on the street your credit cards, or write down your Social Security number for them. Giving that type of information to a stranger who sends you a text is just as dangerous.
* Do give the business or company that the mysterious text came from a call. Don’t contact them through that text, or click on anything in it. Hang up. Look up the actual phone number of your bank or credit card company and ask if they sent you a text. Chances are it did not come from them, and was “smishing”.
Image by Jhaymesisviphotography on Flickr