We've all heard about Phishing; i.e. getting phony e-mails asking you to give up important personal information. We also all know about scams involving telephone solicitation.
Now we have Smishing which is getting personal information by sending bogus text messages to your phone. According to an article in the Kansas City Star, warning consumers about a new, multifaceted identity theft scam where victims are targeted by phone, text messages and e-mails, we now have to worry about fake text messages.
Here's my question: "How many of us get text messages from their banking or brokerage firms?" My guess is not many at all. Therefore why would anyone believe a text message could be from their financial institution, especially in this age of ever more clever identity theft criminals?
It is sad that people get taken in by these thieves. However we all must continue to be cautious when we get a suspicious communication regardless of the way it was transmitted. The first step in preventing identity theft is to be skeptical of any communication that asks for personal information. Without willing takers, identity thieves would have a harder time collecting this information.
No comments:
Post a Comment