Have you been getting a lot of suspicious texts lately? You are not alone, and it seems like everyone in the country is going through the same thing. The public and private sectors are trying to find out where these messages are coming from. But it has been hard to stop them. The most prominent local phone companies, Globe and Smart, have banned sending links through text or SMS to stop smishing.
Smishing with links in messages is an entirely different beast for telcos and customers. Hackers can sometimes get valuable information from your device just by getting you to click on the link. This could be credit card numbers, PIN codes, passwords, or other sensitive information.
There are also times when the link takes you to a compelling website copy. Usually about things you need or use daily. These will ask for your information in exchange for deals and offers that sound good. Or, they could say that “system maintenance” requires “manual input” of personal data. Or else the user’s account will be deleted. Even though it’s a shame, these tricks can still fool people who don’t know much about technology.
Before, these telcos blocked numbers that were likely to be use to send smishing links. And they’ve gone even further and temporarily banne sending links over SMS altogether. The companies have agree to use this solution until a better one is suggested. Or put into place by the time the SIM Card Registration Bill becomes law.
Smart takes a different approach, though they admit that they had thought about blocking all messages with links in them in the past. But because they still want their users to be able to talk freely, they have decided to stop all link shorteners instead. Scammers often use link shorteners to hide the links they want to send people to.
READ: SMS Spam Prevention Tips
