Web Desk
WASHINGTON— A cybersecurity company has revealed that an individual has registered over 10,000 domains for smishing scams.
This information was shared in a report published on Thursday.
According to Palo Alto Networks, the “threat actor” pretends to be toll and package delivery services, sending fake text messages to trick people into giving away personal details, such as credit and debit card information.
These fake services appear to come from California, New York, Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, Kansas, and the Canadian province of Ontario.
The company stated that the texts come from both phone numbers and email addresses. They include links with misleading web addresses designed to deceive recipients into clicking.
Examples of these fake web addresses are “e-zpassiag.com-courtfees.xin” and “usps.com-tracking-helpsomg.xin,” Palo Alto Networks reported.
The scammers may ask iPhone users through iMessage to respond to these texts to activate the scam. However, Apple blocks links from unknown numbers in iMessages.
Last year, the FBI issued a public warning about smishing scams using toll collection service texts. The agency received over 2,000 complaints about these messages.
The FBI explained that the texts claim the recipient owes money for unpaid tolls. The language used in the messages is often identical, and the “outstanding toll amount” mentioned remains similar across complaints.
The links in the texts mimic the names of official state toll services, but the phone numbers change depending on the state.
The FBI advises anyone receiving such texts to report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center and delete the messages immediately.
