Spam texts are unsolicited messages sent by hackers in an attempt to trick you into clicking on malicious links that set you up for hacking or get you to divulge sensitive information that may compromise your security.
A survey conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 in 10 major global markets showed that 4 in 10 respondents had received spam messages on their smartphones. This phenomenon appears to be kicking up a gear as access to smartphones continues to increase.
Scammers continue to become more creative despite efforts to educate people on how to identify and deal with spam texts and phishing attempts. People must get a first-hand look at how these texts are framed and the intentions behind them to avoid falling victim to these tricks.
In this article, I’ll highlight some of the most common fake spam text examples and how to report and deal with them before any damage is done. If you’ve ever received a suspicious message, read this to the end.
Also Read: Best DeHashed Alternatives
Fake Spam Text Examples & How to Deal With Them?
Spam texts come in many forms, and they keep evolving with time. Here are the most common ones.
1. Random Job Offers
In a world where getting a good job is everyone’s biggest dream, it’s no surprise that hackers try to take advantage of this because they know it’s hard for people to resist.
This form of spam text usually comes loaded with a lot of information to confuse the target and trick them into clicking a link that could compromise the security of their device.
One common feature of these spam texts is huge salary offers that are never in tandem with the type of work offered. It could be an offer to work from home for two hours to earn $1,200 daily. Additionally, they never ask for any qualifications, only requiring you to provide certain personal information. Simply unrealistic.
You shouldn’t take such texts seriously if you haven’t applied for a job recently. Furthermore, real job offers usually come through emails or phone calls, and they always reference your original application and the job listing.
2. Family Members Needing Help
This is another classic spam text scam used to nab many unsuspecting victims.
Here, a spammer sends you an urgent text pretending to be a family member using another phone with the excuse that they have lost theirs. The spam text is usually about something critical like a medical emergency aimed at throwing you off since people tend to ask fewer questions when they feel like someone’s life may be in danger.
They usually follow up on the spam text with a request to wire money through various methods.
Dealing with this kind of spam text is much harder than the rest since the scammer will most likely use your real name, and that’s how you drop your guard. The best counter to this is always to call back the number because there’s a high chance they’ll never pick up for fear of exposure.
3. A Text From the Government
This is another famous avenue loved by hackers because it takes advantage of people’s trust in their government. A good example here would be receiving a text from a government body like the IRS informing you that you owe the government some taxes, or sometimes, bait you with the good news that you overpaid your taxes and are due for a refund.
A request for sensitive information like your name, email address, home address, or social security number follows this. With these in their hands, the damage they can inflict on you is unimaginable.
Most government agencies around the world never communicate through text messages. The IRS, for example, always sends physical letters through the US Postal Service because that’s harder to intercept and manipulate.
Whenever you receive this type of spam text, contact the government agency to confirm if it’s from them. Do not click on any link.
4. You’ve Won!
This spam text informs you that you’ve won something from an event you don’t remember participating in. Like all the other spam texts, it appeals to an individual’s greed since many people find it hard to say yes to gifts and never think twice about it.
This type of text comes in two forms. It either sends you a link that you’re supposed to click to claim your prize, or you may be asked to send all your details for the award to be sent to you.
Doing either of these things will result in untold pain for you. Clicking on a link that could be malicious will lead to you getting hacked, and sending personal information is the fastest way to get your bank accounts cleaned.
5. You’ve Received a Refund!
This is mostly spam text from scammers impersonating your bank, and it’s very easy to fall for this because most people don’t keep track of their bank activities.
This spam text is designed to make you feel like you made an erroneous overpayment for something, and your bank is trying to give you a refund. You can understand how hard this would be to resist because the thought of being refunded by your bank is usually exciting to anyone involved.
You may be asked to give out very private information, and since people trust their banks, most unsuspecting victims never think twice.
Another common bank-related spam text is the bank closure alert you may receive on your mobile device. You may obtain a text asking you to confirm your PIN through a link to stop your account from being closed, and doing that gets your bank account emptied faster than you can blink.
6. You Have a Package Delivery!
Package deliveries are typical in most countries, and countless courier services deliver items straight to their customer’s doorsteps. Hackers and spammers have been targeting people who frequently use courier services to trick them into divulging sensitive information for bogus deliveries.
The text is carefully crafted using the victim’s actual name, home address, and fictitious order they may have forgotten about. To people who frequently order things online, it may be hard to detect this as a scam.
Victims are then required to claim ownership of the package by clicking on a malicious link or providing private information that can be used to steal from them.
Once again, always make it a habit to call back or contact your courier service provider to get confirmation.
7. Verify Your Apple iCloud
Apple prides itself on its ingenious and impenetrable security framework. The only way to beat this is from the inside, and that’s precisely what scammers have been pulling off successfully through socially engineered spam texts.
If you’ve ever received a random text asking you to verify your Apple iCloud account due to some hacking attempt, run.
This text is always accompanied by a link which gives the hackers all they need to get past your iCloud password and steal anything they can get their hands on.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that Apple would never send something this important and sensitive through text. It comes through the mail, which requires verification from your end, where you have to input your password or 2FA if you have it activated.
8. Billing Statements
Another common avenue spammers use is manipulating billing statements from your internet service provider or streaming service to trick you into entering personal details that they can use to hack you.
Since most internet bills are settled once a month, most ISPs and streaming services usually mail the billing statements ahead of time. The spam texts typically come with a request asking you to review the bill and send payment to avoid any penalty. You’re provided a link that can lead to hacking when you click on it.
When you receive this type of text, contact your ISP through any means necessary before taking any other action. ISPs have official communication channels that they never change without prior notice.
9. Free Bitcoin
The cryptocurrency craze that has been gripping the world for a while now has opened a new door for scammers to take advantage of people who are too eager to jump onto the bandwagon without the proper information.
Spam texts offering free bitcoins usually pop up in a victim’s phone. Clicking on any link within these texts could lead to your information falling into the wrong hands, and you could be blackmailed.
Others try to get their victims to download crypto-mining apps or participate in cryptocurrency giveaways. Installing these suspicious apps puts your device at risk, as some have been programmed to collect your keyboard strokes without your knowledge.
10. Scholarship Fund
With online degrees a common thing in our digital world, scammers have also started to take advantage of desperate students who may be looking to get online degrees from reputable universities.
Spam texts informing the victim that they’ve won a scholarship they didn’t apply for, complete with a registration link where they can enter their details before claiming their scholarship. Unbeknownst to the victim, this is nothing but a plot to get them to divulge sensitive information that can be used to hack their bank accounts.
You have no reason to fall for this trick if you’ve never applied for a scholarship.
How to Identify Spam Texts?
Identifying spam texts is easy if you’re careful enough or have been a victim. Here are some tell-tale signs that you may be dealing with a phishing attempt through spam texts.
Spelling Mistakes
For some inexplicable reason, most spam texts are usually full of spelling and punctuation errors to the point it feels like they do it deliberately. The sentences generally come with randomly capitalized words, misplaced punctuation, and wrongly spelled words.
If you’re keen to look beyond the baiting and the allure of gifts and money, you can immediately catch on to the phishing attempt through a simple sweep of the text.
Official communication from reputable services and agencies is usually well-structured without grammatical errors because they have to be approved and proofread by different eyes.
Shortened Links
Most links hidden within a spam text are constantly shortened to conceal their true identity and intention. When you look at links embedded in official communication, they have readable permalinks showing exactly where they lead.
Since spammers can’t recreate the official website of the entities they’re trying to impersonate, they use shortened links in the hopes that the victim won’t think much of it. When you see a shortened link in any text, delete it immediately and don’t attempt to click on it.
It’s also imperative that I reiterate once more that most companies and government agencies never communicate through texts. And whenever they do, they follow it with a similar email for transparency and security.
The most commonly used link by scammers usually ends in “bit.ly.”
Unknown Mobile Numbers
Government agencies and major companies involved in providing services to the public have official websites that display all the official methods of communication they use to get in touch.
These phone numbers and email addresses never change without prior notification. Therefore, if you receive a text from an unknown number asking you to divulge sensitive information, that’s your cue to report the number as spam and forward it to the relevant authorities.
The best tactic to counter this is to save the official numbers of all the services you frequently use and always call them at the earliest opportunity whenever you receive a text that appears out of the norm.
They Sound Urgent
Spam texts are always urgent, and that’s not by accident.
One tactic used by scammers to get their victims is bombarding them with too much information to the point they don’t have time to process anything.
This is why spam texts that end up being successful usually cite an emergency that requires urgent help, giving the victim little time to consider that they may be falling into a trap.
Therefore, when you see a text from a suspicious number trying to pressure you to take a specific action, that is your cue to be alert.
Major red flags are messages requesting immediate action on a compromised account, an urgent bill that needs to be settled, or a relative that requires instant medical help.
Try calling back immediately and watch your calls go unanswered.
Wrong Branding
Besides using official numbers and emails, every official communication from the government or corporations comes with a distinct branding. This could be a logo or a digital signature that’s hard to replicate.
Whenever you see poorly aligned branding in a text from a number you’ve never seen, that’s a clear indication that there’s a phishing attempt being directed at you. So it helps to be familiar with the official branding of the companies and agencies behind your frequently used services.
Are Impersonal
Most spam texts are usually random, sent by people who have very little information on you, which is why they’re trying to get more. Therefore, they rarely address you by your proper name and instead, resort to impersonal and generic greetings like “Hello.”
This also underlines the importance of never revealing too much impersonal information about yourself on social media. Scammers have been mining details of their potential victims from their social media profiles, making it easy for them to fashion persuasive spam texts.
Are Too Good to Be True
All that glitters isn’t gold. When a deal appears too good to be true, it pays to take a step back and look at it with fresh eyes. Besides crafting their spam texts to be urgent, using irresistible language and goodies is another way scammers nab their victims.
For example, it doesn’t make sense to finally receive a dream job offer with incredible benefits out of the blue after months of unsuccessful attempts. You may be very vulnerable at that point, but being a little skeptical can save you a lot of pain down the road.
How to Report Spam Texts?
Americans received over 66 billion spam texts in 2022 alone. That’s a lot. Fortunately, all is not lost. Here’s how you can report spam texts.
1. Forward the Spam Text to 7726
The number 7726 is the designated Global System for Mobile Communication (GSMA) that people worldwide can use to forward and report spam texts. Most countries are members of GSMA alongside hundreds of mobile service providers.
Sending these texts is free and will never count against your text subscription plan. Depending on your device, you can either find the Forwarding option or copy the text and paste it into a message box and send it as a new text message to 7726.
Some service providers may contact you to ask if the text is still on your device and advise you on the next move.
2. Report the Number as Spam
You can block the number and report it as spam, forcing all future text messages from that particular number to be sent to the spam box where you can’t interact with it. Most smartphones have a block function, but countless apps provide this option if you need help finding it in yours.
One of my favorites is Truecaller which has a reliable block function that stores the blocked spam number in its database, visible to other users.
Other options you can try include Robokiller, Nomorobo, and Hiya.
3. Join the Do Not Call Registry
If you are in the United States, you can join the Do Not Call Registry, which stops all unsolicited text messages from telemarketers, organizations, and even spam texts.
Registering your number on this registry is free, and if you continue to receive unsolicited texts, you can report the matter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
4. Report to FCC
Another critical governing body that can also help you stop receiving unsolicited spam texts is the Federal Communications Commission.
You can do this by visiting their website and filling out a form with your phone number, email address, and all the information about the specific spam texts you keep receiving.
Final Word: It Pays to Be Vigilant
Scammers are always a step ahead, and it all comes down to you to protect yourself by being vigilant and skeptical of any suspicious text that appears on your mobile device.
Take advantage of apps and always confirm things with companies and agencies providing day-to-day services.
