Ooof… you’d hope so, right? Sounds uncomfortable.
But push away whatever image that word has put in your head, and turn your attention to your mobile phone.
Smishing is the text message version of phishing.
What’s phishing again? It’s where criminals send you an email, pretending to be someone else (like your bank), to try to get sensitive information from you.
Yes, these cyber criminals really are resourceful. And the more ways there are to try and infiltrate your data, the more they’ll use different platforms.
Just like with phishing, smishing attempts are not always as easy to spot as you might think.
Most of them pretend to be sent from a recognized business – like your network provider, for example – rather than just a random number. Some look like they’ve come from someone you know personally.
They’ll ask you to click a link to take an action like checking your monthly bill, updating your account information, or maybe to pay a bill. It’s usually the kind of message you would expect to see from that business.
But if you click that link… you’ve potentially given them access to your device. And that means they may have access to your data, passwords, and any other information stored on your phone.
Terrifying.
Protecting yourself is really similar to the way you’d deal with a phishing attempt on your email:
• Never click on any links unless you’re certain the sender is who they say they are
• If you’re unsure, contact the company (or person) on their usual number to check
• And if an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is (sorry, you didn’t really win that competition you never even entered)
Consider this our number one most important golden rule: Never click a link if you’re not expecting it. Wait to verify it with the sender first.