Scammers are more and more aggressive with each passing day. They have latched on to the spirit of the times. They have learnt to harness the smartphone. They have ingenious schemes to lighten your pockets. Beware of the payment ext scam! Smishing also refers to the deliberate misleading of and ultimately swindling of hapless, unsuspecting customers. But we shall learn to play ‘tough cookie’ yet!
Per authoritative research, payment text scams have expanded their act. This has been facilitated in no small measure by customers’ dependence on deliveries during the Pandemic. Scammers have an extensive palette. They can choose from amongst SMS, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber, Snapchat, Google Hangout, and other messaging platforms to try and lighten your wallet.
Utilising identity asking technology to transform the name shown as the sender, scammers frequently make it appear as if a legit organisation is calling you thru text or a messaging app. Number spoofing is the name of the game.
When a scam message is sent to you, you mustn’t reply to it. Rather, you ought to report so that others may live without this plague. Scam message reporting comes free.
Staying un-mugged: a mug-shot of your typical payment text scam
- Scammers may be getting wilder and wilder when it comes to genuine fakery. Still, the onus is on you to absorb the tell-tale signs.
- An unknown number sends a message.
Given that most organisations shield their ‘sender ID’, text messages ought to be from ‘Royal Mail’ or ‘HSBC’. There’s no generic number. Do not always count on the number even though ‘sender ID’ can be hijacked on smartphones. when in doubt, contact the organisation directly with the aid of a verified number from the organisation’s website.
- Urgent payment requests
That tactic tries to put your nerves all in a bind so that you are too bewildered to think straight. Genuine firms/institutions never ask you to make payment/ account changes, especially not thru text messages. These events can take place if and only if you are the initiator of the communication.
- Ersatz website addresses
Does the website address tally with that of the organisation? Ascertain that the website link is the firm’s official; domain. Once you are past this post, make sure to check the firm’s details double as well.
- Spelling errors and odd wording
It’s just as well that one hallmark of these brutish scammers is their brutish education standard. Some of them are so poor at spelling, grammar, and sentence structure, their constructions stand out a mile high. As in ‘a sore thumb’. That’s a tell-tale sign if ever there was one!
Payment text cam: template
When youtube a text message from your bank, go thru it with a good deal of caution. You can bet your bottom dollar the bank would never:
- Demand your PIN or internet banking number;
- Send someone to your home for bank related business;
- Ask you to text vital personal/financial info;
- Send you a link thru which you are to input your vital banking details;
- Ask you to authorise a fund transfer that you did not request in the first place;
- Advise you to invest in land, commodities, or diamonds;
- Ask you to execute a certain transaction; ask you to use a mobile app other than the official one.
If you get an unexpected message from your bank and you are worried if it is real or not, you can call your bank back. You will be doing so thru an official number listed on the official website, or barring that, the number on the back of your credit/debit card.
Avoiding text message scams
There are several tips to assist you in Avoiding text message scams.
- Leave the links well enough alone!
This sort of guarantees your freedom from text message scams. Links may convey you to linked websites, made to steal your money or personal data. Since links are frequently abridged to ease them into the massage,. It’s not always the done deal telling real and fake apart. You also do not want to be clicking malware right on your phone by clicking links of a dubious nature.
- Eschew sharing personal info
Perish the thought that you ought to divulge your vital info over less than formal channels even to the bank. There are protocols followed even in matters such as this. Quite failsafe.
- Get in touch with the institution directly if unsure
If you smell a rat, or something’s fishy, drop the real McCoy a line. The official website is the go-to place. Dial only the official numbers therein noted.
- Do not reply
Do not reply if you do not want more of the same coming your way. You do not wish unwelcome attention.
- Report!
7726 is the number to dial. Your info will be shared with the Police and intelligence services.
Conclusion
The payment text scam is easy enough to spot when you know what you are looking for. If you are sure you know how your financial services providers behave in their official capacity, there ought to be no trouble at all.Getting all confused just when you need your wits about does your security in. In all matters of ‘payments’, remember to think things thru!
