Industry experts cite the early 2000s as the rise of text message scams. But as soon as it grew more popular, scammers caught wind and dove in. When Did Fake Texts Become So Common?įake texts weren’t a thing when text messaging was invented in 1984. Old-school scammers may even pick through your trash to find your old bills. Scammers also frequent people search sites, which contain personal details from your phone number to your past home addresses. (The dark web refers to secret internet sites only accessible by people with specialized browsers. There’s a chance that your phone number was compromised during one of these breaches, then sold by cybercriminals on the dark web, where scammers can purchase it. It’s not your fault that you’re getting unsolicited text messages.ĭata breaches are growing more common as our technology advances and more people store personal or financial information online. This tactic of phishing through SMS messages is called “smishing.” How did scammers get your number? Then, they can empty your bank account-and, in some cases, steal your identity. Scammers send texts because they want to trick you into giving them critical data, from your passwords to your Social Security number. Why Do People Get Fake Texts and Spam Texts? But if you can identify which texts are fake, you’ll be able to stop reading right away and press delete. Spammers have realized that texting is a trusted channel, which makes it easier to trick consumers into falling for their traps. They’re a type of spam text message in the sense that they are definitely unwanted texts.įake text messages are a growing problem as messaging becomes more popular. Meanwhile, fake text messages are texts that scammers send with the intent of deceiving the recipient into sharing their personal or financial information. Whether they come from a legitimate business or a scammer, if you did not sign up to receive these texts, they’re spam. Spam text messages are any unwanted or unsolicited messages sent to your phone.
Fake text message how to#
Understanding how to identify a fake text message starts with knowing the difference between fake texts and spam texts, as they’re slightly different. What’s the difference between spam and fake text messages? The FTC reported that consumers lost $5.8 billion in 2021 due to these fake messages, an increase of 70% over 2020. They become much more problematic when the text is a fake message attempting to scam you most often for money. Spam text messages typically market a service or product you did not sign up to hear about. Not only that, they’re frequently linked to scams. These spam texts are annoying-and dangerous. phone users received more than 87 billion spam texts.
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