MIDLAND, Texas — The FBI recently held an online webinar to spread awareness about phishing, vishing and SMShing, three techniques that scammers use to steal personal information.
Each technique utilizes some form of communication to trick people into giving away information.
Phishing sends malware through emails, vishing impersonates companies who leave voicemails or phone calls to record voices and SMShing sends a compromised link through text message, tricking users into clicking it.
FBI computer scientist Tomas Armendariz, said SMShing poses the greatest threat due to its conversational tone.
“Fewer people are aware of the danger of clicking links through text messages," Armendariz said. "This scam works because users are more trusting of text messages and aren't thrown off by informal conversational language in the SMS text.”
However, there are ways to tell when a message is a scam.
Telltale red flags of scam message are an urgent tone, a suspicious link and multiple spelling errors.
If you or someone you know is affected by a scam, it is better to act sooner rather than later.
“One of the key things you might want to do is freeze your credit report, just to ensure that no one else can open an account in your name," Armendiaz said. "File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commissions and report it to IC3, which is our internet crime complaint center."