Your Money ; Scam Alert
; AARP Online
Crooks target cellphone users
Texting Trickery By Sid Kirchheimer
After there
are some things that
you should not do …
Your cellphone chimes—a text message has come in. It bears your bank’s name and has some disturbing news. One of your
accounts has been frozen. Please call us at the following number to clear this up, urges the message.
You’ve just been “smished.”
An offshoot of “phishing”—emails that try to
trick you into disclosing personal or financial in-
formation—smishing is named for the SMS (short
message service) technology used to send text
messages. (There’s even another variation, “vish-
ing.” Instead of a text message, you get a call with
a recorded voice.)
As more people have gotten wise to computer-
You can check out
the list of DO’S and
DON’TS at aarp.org/
after50
; Puzzle
Answers from page 17
Falling Leaves
based scams, scammers are
increasingly targeting cellphones. Their users are three
times more likely to fall for
fake messages than computer
users, according to online security firm Trusteer; iPhone
users are the most vulnerable.
When you call the number
the text gives you for your bank, you’re actually
connecting to the scammers, who ask for your account number, PIN, Social Security number—the
raw material of identity theft.
Bogus bank alerts lead in smishing attacks. But
you may also get texts promising a free laptop,
mortgage assistance or lottery winnings. A mes-
sage may just say, “Short on cash? Reply here!” One
new come-on is a supposed free security app to
get you to click on a link that in fact downloads
identity-stealing software to your phone.
Cellphone
users are
three times
more likely to
fall for these
messages.
Alpha Sudoku
Sid Kirchheimer is the author of Scam-Proof Your
Life, published by AARP Books/Sterling.
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