For Everyone Be Alert for Vishing and Smishing Scams Forward Suspicious Texts to 7726
Hackers aren’t just using emails to send phish, they’re also impersonating trusted sources with voice calls (known as vishing) or using text messages (known as smishing) to get you to click on a link.
In late March, a popular wealth management company was hacked when cybercriminals impersonated the company with calls to their customers. The criminals were able to get the victims to reveal personal and financial information including banking and login information. This resulted in victims’ money getting transferred from their bank accounts directly to the criminals. If you ever get a call, even if your phone registers it as coming from a known source, do not share any personal information. You should hang up and call the company back with the number listed on their website or on the back of your credit card, if applicable.
And if you ever get a suspicious text message, there is now an action you can take. Simply forward the text to 7726 (see instructions here) and your provider will respond with a text message asking for the sender’s number. A text message may be a “smish” if it is from an unknown sender and is asking you to take urgent action by clicking a link or viewing a video. Best practice is to never click on any links from a text or email when you are not familiar with the sender.
