What is Smishing and how to stay protected?

What is Smishing?

Smishing is a form of phishing attack, combination of SMS and phishing as the mode of fraud is the Short Messaging Service (SMS) in this case. Also known as SMS Phishing (SMiShing) is the social engineering scam which the attackers use to attract the users.

How does it work?

Any user can receive a SMS from the attacker stating that his/her account is suspended and needs a payment of some amount instantly, if he doesn’t reply soon the payment will be deducted. The SMS have either the number to call back which is powered by the Interactive Voice Response system (IVR)to show the genuineness or have some URL listed which is some genuine looking fake URL.

The hackers will then ask for your credit card info, or other personal info and create a duplicate card for the same. After they have captured your information, you are sure to lose your money. The SMS have no number of the sender as it is usually sent using computer or email service, making it hard tocatch them.

How to stay protected from Smishing?

The only method to stay safe from smishing is by staying attentive and never ever replying to the unknown calls (vishing) or messages (smishing). Your security is in your hands, unless you reveal your information, no one can find it and remember genuine organizations like Banks will never ask your private info as they already have it.

In case you are in doubt, then open the webpage directly only, never click on the URL or links provided to you via email or texts as they will redirect to some similar looking website which will hack your details.

Courtesy: QbOhayo