In the past few years, mobile devices have become a new front for scammers looking for new victims to exploit vulnerabilities. As more and more people rely entirely on these phones as their primary means of staying connected, they provide a profitable target for criminals.
As a result, mobile operator Three highlighted some of the most common and emerging scams for smartphones and made some suggestions on how to avoid them.
One of the biggest trends at the moment is 'Smishing'. Short for SMS phishing, which involves fraudsters sending fraudulent text messages to trick people into handing over personal information. For example, in recent months, Three has found an increase in the number of Smishing texts that claim to come from companies that have a relationship with customers and encourage them to enter payment details into fraudulent websites.
These can be very complicated and convincing scams, so Three advises users not to enter any personal information into the website they send via SMS messages, and delete any suspicious messages without opening any links contained within them.
However, Smishing is far from the only strategy used by scammers for mobile phone users. Another emerging trend is called Wangiri. This originated in Japan and its name was translated as “one cut”.
It involves the scammer randomly dialing a number, but only one or two laps after the recipient has a chance to answer. This then appears as a missed call, encouraging users to call back - at this point they may be charged a lot of money because the scammer sets a high price and an international number to make these calls.
Three suggested users avoid answering calls or dialing back any numbers they don't know and avoid sharing any personal information again.
Although all major networks are designed to actively identify and block fraudulent attempts, such as SmiShing Utilization and Wangiri - with three indicating that it successfully blocked hundreds of billions of known use for Wangiri numbers, "saving customers hundreds of thousands of pounds", this is It is impossible to block every attempt so that the customer can help by reporting any suspicious calls or messages to the operator's fraudulent number.
Alex Ammoune, the chief fraud risk expert at Three, commented: "Although we have seen an increase in Smishing and Wangiri activities this year, these fraudulent methods are by no means limited to three networks. Fraudsters are a continuing problem for all telephone networks in the UK, but we hope By sharing tips and guidance, it may help prevent our customers from becoming victims."
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