Texting scams are on the rise, attorney general says
Arizona and the nation have seen a rise in complaints associated to texting scams, based on the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
“Fraudsters are relentless,” Attorney General Mark Brnovich stated in a press release. “Text messaging schemes are now on the rise, and people are losing their money.”
The Federal Trade Commission recorded greater than 378,000 complaints about textual content scams in 2021, up by greater than 45,000 complaints from the prior year, based on the Attorney General’s Office.
Consumers lost not less than $131 million to textual content scammers final year, the assertion stated. The median loss was $900 per particular person.
What does a textual content message scam appear like?
It’s simple to make a texting scam appear respectable, stated Teresa Murray, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s client watchdog.
“The scammers will do anything to get a response,” Murray stated.
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Text messaging scams can are available in quite a lot of packages, however all of them have the similar aim: to get the recipient to reply with delicate info. Text scam examples embrace:
- Gift or prize presents: Swindlers impersonate well-known firms in a textual content that features a hyperlink to a survey. They provide a present card or money upon survey completion.
- Delivery deception: A textual content message asking for bank card affirmation will seem like despatched from a supply service and ask recipients to pay for bundle supply.
- Financial companies: Scammers faux to be a financial institution and urge individuals to confirm their account username, password or PIN quantity.
- Government companies: The sender of a textual content masquerades as the IRS or different authorities company to acquire a Social Security quantity.
- Impersonators: Scammers might attempt to have interaction in dialog by pretending to be an acquaintance. These would possibly begin with pleasant phrases like, “How are you?” or “Call me back when you can.”
How to guard your self from texting scams
Fraudulent texts usually include spelling errors or demand instant motion from recipients, based on the Attorney General’s Office.
Consumers can keep away from falling prey to scams by not clicking on hyperlinks in unsolicited textual content messages and blocking the related telephone quantity.
Texts from unknown numbers needs to be ignored, even when the message says to answer “stop” to forestall future messages.
“Scammers can’t rip you off if you don’t engage with them,” Murray said.
It can also be helpful to read suspicious text messages to a friend or family member, she said.
“When people say the text message out loud, they often realize that it’s not legit,” she stated.
How to report scams
Fraudulent messages may be reported to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office via an online consumer complaint form: https://www.azag.gov/complaints/consumer.
Texting scams may also be reported to wi-fi service suppliers by forwarding suspicious texts to 7726, which corresponds with “SPAM,” Murray stated.
