Have you ever gotten a text that seemed too good to be true or just downright seemed like something is off? If you have then you have received a spam message and while these can be annoying, they can be dangerous. There are different reasons for why people send these spam messages, and the consequences vary depending on what the link leads to.
Spam messages come in many different forms, and some are more believable than the next. Fun fact, according to the FCC, last year alone, more than 2.2 trillion texts were exchanged between Americans. In an age where communication is greatly dependent on messages and emails, it is important to be aware of spam messages and emails that could exploit your data and take your sensitive personal information.
Spam messages are a dangerous yet preventable concept that more individuals should have more awareness about. There are ways to be more cautious and prevent further scammers from getting what they want. A spam text message will usually come from an unknown number with content that seems like it was generated in a rush.
Commonly, spam messages contain a link and a punchline to get your attention to potentially make you click on the link. Clicking on these links and inputting your information where the link directs you can corrupt your device or even worse, have someone steal your credentials and private information. Common punchlines usually fall in the lines of you winning a prize, needing verification of your address to ship a product, or you owing something.
Convincing enough, these topics can be just enough to look past the unorthodox text and click the link without a second thought. If you have been a victim of spam messages or know someone who has, it is important to know what to do when you get a spam message for the safety of yourself and others.
The first step into better protecting you and your device starts with spotting the spam message. Many red flags come with spam messages and are often easy to spot, the first should be that the message is from an unknown sender. Next would be to look for typos and bad punctuation, scammers usually send out generated texts that are not well put.
Some spam messages could be people who are posing like a company to trick you into clicking a link. For these instances you would have to refer to your memory and confirm that you are expecting a text from the company. If you did not do any business with a company and get a text from a number asking for your confirmation on your address or to collect a prize or gift card, it is more than likely a spam message.
Always keep in mind that if something looks too good to be true on random unknown text messages, it probably is. More topics include scammers texting you that you purchased something and to click on the link if you did not make the purchase, offering you low interest credit cards, offering to pay off student loans, or stating that they spotted suspicious activity in your bank account.
Although these spam messages are annoying, simply ignoring them and deleting them will not help to reduce spam messages.
Next time you receive a spam message, forward it to 7726 (SPAM) and doing so will block the sender and prevent future spam text messages like the one you report. For iOS/android you can either copy the message and send it to 7726 or press on the message and click the forward icon and proceed to forward it to 7726. It is important to report a spam message every time to lower the spam messages you get and to help stop the scammer from getting to others.
You can also report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and paste the message on there. There are many resources out there and it is important to trust your instinct, double check everything, and to be very cautious when dealing with a potential spam message.