Is it ‘urgent’ or threatening? Is it attempting to get you to act immediately?
This is the biggest red flag because attackers do not want you to think clearly or talk to anyone.
Promises of large sums of money, prizes, or something else are too good to be true.
Does the phone number match who they claim to be?
Are there links or attachments they want you to click on or visit?
Are they asking for sensitive personal information such as passwords or SSNs?
Does the email sound, feel, or seem strange?
Are there obvious spelling mistakes?
What is the email asking of you? Does it seem suspicious or unusual?
Is the email trying to scare you into doing something you don’t want to do?
An Example Smishing Text Message Scam
To the left is an example phishing text message scam. There are many warning signs within this text message, as listed below.
- The sender is pretending to be from USPS, but the phone number is not correct. You can confirm this by looking at the USPS phone number online. If it was the USPS, it would have a +1 International code
- The beginning of the text starts off with “U.S. Post” and claims to be USPS, which are not the same thing
- There is a sense of urgency because it says your “parcel” is detained, trying to get you to respond in 24 hours
- The text is trying to get you to go to a link which is suspicious
- The text describes details to reply to the email and then open the suspicious link in a browser? It seems suspicious
- Just because the website is ‘https’, it does not mean that it is safe
If Classified a Text as a Scam, Here’s How to Proceed
If you have checked for potential warning signs and classified a text message as a scam text, here’s a few things to “adaptive” actions to take.
- Do not click or following anything they say in the message
- Block the sender’s phone number through your phone’s contacts
- Report the text message as junk to prevent getting more texts
- Delete the text message
- Follow steps to take “adaptive” actions on the Adapt page
