In honor of my Caught Dead in Wyoming mystery series, my assistant Gabriella Samuels is writing for my newsletter and blog a series of consumer tips inspired by TV reporter Elizabeth Margaret Danniher.
Text scams are one of the most common scams out there. In a former Consumer Tip, I talked about texting scams, but with the development of artificial intelligence, there are new things to look out for. AI has made text messaging scams even easier for scammers to produce, and AI texting bots are getting harder to notice.
“Wrong number” scams are still a major issue, but AI has helped scammers make fake “Security Alert” texts and “Problems with delivery” texts. AI can also pretend to be one of your contacts. You could believe you are talking to a friend when it is actually a bot. I have noticed I am getting texts like these more recently, so I wanted to warn readers once more.
Here are some things to remember and look out for while staying safe:
- Avoid clicking on any links in text messages. The link could be malware that will steal your financial or personal information.
- If you receive a random text out of nowhere, do not engage with it. If you reply to the text, your number will be flagged as being “active” and the scammer will target you further.
- It is always best to block the number and delete the message from unknown numbers. You can also report spam to your phone provider.
- If you think an AI bot is pretending to be one of your contacts, call or email them directly to confirm. This is popular with cryptocurrency scams.
Remember, legitimate companies never use text messages to ask for your personal information. Never give personal information via text messages.
Report any scam to https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ and as always, be careful.