I did not answer, but many others who received similar texts did. Some are even throwing it at their spammers spinning wild stories and sending hilarious messages to frustrate anyone on the other side. They are fighting snark and in some cases posting screenshots of their online conversations.
Spam is on the rise, and so are the number of people who react with “scam,” which refers to “the act of wasting a criminal’s time,” says Jack Whittaker, a doctoral student in sociology. at the University of Surrey. who is studying the phenomenon. However, experts say that responding defeats the point as it opens a person to even more spam.
@bellabeeeaar
Spam texts that try to scam their recipients into giving up valuable information are not new. Some of the earliest digital spam messages were sent via email chain letters, best known for the scams in which someone posing as a Nigerian prince claimed that he needed the recipient’s help to deposit a large amount of money.
Once smartphones became commonplace, scammers switched to text messaging. And in 2022, spam is much more personal. They often mimic misdirected text, perhaps addressing the recipient with the wrong name or using a generic first line (“How’s it going” or “I had fun tonight!” Are common) to ask for an answer.
If you’ve been receiving these messages lately, you’re not alone. “There’s been an incredible increase in spam texts,” says J. Michael Skiba, a professor at Colorado State University who specializes in cybercrime and international financial fraud. Worldwide, 90 billion of them were shipped last year, he says; in the United States, 47 billion spam messages were sent from January to October 2021, 55% more than in the same period in 2020. According to RoboKiller, a spam blocking company, scam messages went causing losses of $ 86 million in the U.S. alone in 2020. “People are bombarded with these,” Skiba says.
Skiba says that sending text messages has several advantages over email from a scammer’s point of view: a note from a phone number generates less suspicion than one from an incomplete email address and the casual nature of the messages. of text makes grammatical errors less noticeable. Many people also feel a very human need to respond to a text. “It’s a psychological trick because you know the text isn’t right, but it appeals to your desire to help and say,‘ You got the wrong number, ’” Skiba says.
The person on the other hand, however, is more likely to work with an organized group of scammers in a call center and expect me to say exactly that. A single answer is enough for a scammer to verify that a phone number is real. This response leads to a domino effect that could invite even more spam to your phone. Ultimately, scammers seek to at least verify your number to potentially sell it to other groups; obtaining your personal information is a good advantage.
“I would 100% recommend not answering at all,” Skiba says.
