Smishing and Phishing, and Vishing, Oh My!

Just as Dorothy faced the dangers of lions and tigers, and bears in the magic land of OZ, we face the dangers of smishing and phishing, and vishing in our beautiful Rockland communities.

The latest attempts by scammers to invade our privacy and steal sensitive information such as Social Security and credit card numbers, account passwords, and more, are being made through text messages on mobile devices. This practice is called "smishing."

You may already be familiar with the term "phishing." This is the fraudulent practice of tech-savvy thieves who send out emails that appear to come from legitimate sources in order to induce the recipients into responding with data that will allow them to access their accounts.

Similarly, "vishing" makes use of the telephone to achieve the same goal-- get people to divulge personal information that will allow the callers to steal from anyone who responds to their questions.

All three techniques rely on persuading the recipient that the initiator of the text message, email, or telephone call, is a familiar and trusted individual or company, and that urgent action is needed to resolve a problem, win a prize, or avert a threat.

In the case of smishing, you may receive a text message from what appears to be your bank, your mobile provider, or companies with which you do business like Netflix, PayPal, or Amazon. The message may claim that your account has been locked and that you need to click on a link or provide personal information in order to unlock it. If you do, the scammers may be able to steal your identity, your money, and/or infect your device with malware.

There are warning signs that a text message may not be legitimate: a text message that asks for a Social Security number or online account password, or that asks you to click on a link to win a prize or resolve a problem, is probably a SCAM. Any message that purports to be from a government agency is also likely to be bogus.

Here are several "do's" and "don'ts" to keep in mind if you receive a suspicious text message:

• Do contact the company that supposedly sent the text, using a phone number or website that you know is legitimate.
• Do forward the text to 7726, the mobile industry's spam reporting service.
• Don't respond to the text--not even with a "STOP" to avoid receiving future messages.
• Don't click on links in the message.

With a little bit of care and skepticism, you can avoid falling victim to the latest of today's scams: smishing.

Be vigilant Stay safe