Scam SMS routines are many, don't believe it

"Your points will be cleared at the end of the month, please click on the link to enter the mall and redeem the goods." "You have given away 50 points to your account, please click on the link to go to the website, claim your points and participate in the red envelope lottery." Have you ever received a text message like this at the end of the year and the beginning of the year? In recent years, telecommunications network fraud methods have been continuously renovated, and many citizens have been repeatedly recruited. Recently, aunt Huang, a citizen, told reporters that she was defrauded of tens of yuan by fraudulent text messages in December last year, and coincidentally, in 2019, Aunt Huang was also defrauded of hundreds of yuan by the same means. How exactly do telecom network frauds create such scams?

Encountered SMS scams twice

In December last year, Aunt Huang, who lives in Minhang, received a mobile phone text message that began with "106", and the text message content was "Dear users, your accumulated membership points will be completely cleared on December 31, and you can quickly click on the website link to exchange for goods." Seeing that the SMS has its own mobile phone tail number, and she is indeed a member of the merchant, Aunt Huang clicked on the website link in the SMS without much thought. After clicking, there are many product images and points required for exchange. After selecting a product based on her points, she found that she had to pay a fee in addition to deducting points. Finally, Aunt Huang chose a product with the lowest value, and the page showed that Aunt Huang needed to pay 20 yuan for shipping costs after exchanging points for purchase, but Aunt Huang did not receive the goods for more than ten days after paying the freight. It wasn't until I called the merchant to inquire that I was told that the webpage that Aunt Huang clicked on was fake, and the points exchange activity was also fake.

Aunt Huang said that it was not the first time she had encountered telecom network fraud. In 2019, she had received a text message from 10086, although the content of the text message had been deleted, she clearly remembered that the text message contained the content of "Dear user, your points will expire, please log in to the website link with your mobile phone and follow the prompts to install and download the APP, activate the client to receive the cash red packet" content. Because of her belief in 10086, Aunt Huang followed the prompts of the text message, because the process was complicated, she did not remember what important information she entered, but then, she found that her bank card was stolen and swiped more than 600 yuan. However, when the 10086 customer service hotline was connected to inquire, Aunt Huang found that the link she clicked was not the official website, and the real 10086 did not publish this activity at all.

SMS scams are reinvented

In fact, the tricks of SMS scams are far more than what Aunt Huang encountered. On the eve of the Spring Festival, many citizens will buy tickets or train tickets, and Mr. Shen, a citizen, received a text message from the so-called airline shortly after purchasing the ticket, prompting Mr. Shen to have new points in the account and providing a website link. Mr. Shen also clicked on the above link according to the SMS prompt, but due to his high vigilance, Mr. Shen found that the link to the website was not the official website of the airline, and then immediately quit.

Every New Year's Festival, various merchants and platforms have launched lottery and red envelope grabbing activities, which also gives fraudsters an opportunity to take advantage of it. Ms. Liao, a citizen, said that on the second day of the New Year, she received a text message from a platform for the red envelope snatching activity. "I clicked in according to the SMS request, and there was indeed a red envelope on the page, and the amount in the red envelope was not small." But then, the page prompts that it must be forwarded before the red packet can be received. After Ms. Liao forwarded the link to the web page, the page actually jumped to a completely different web page, and there was a prize pool lottery and other content. "I didn't feel right, asked my daughter to know it was fake, and quickly turned it off."

A few days ago, Mr. Ma, who lives in Pudong, received a customer service call, saying that the goods purchased by Mr. Ma on an e-commerce platform were lost and needed to be refunded to Mr. Ma, and then sent a text message link. Thinking that this was a New Year purchase for his family, Mr. Ma wanted to refund it immediately and then buy it again, so he clicked on the SMS link to operate, and when he found that he needed to enter the bank card number and password to enter the webpage, Mr. Ma realized that he may have been deceived.

Never click on unfamiliar links

In recent years, SMS scams such as these have emerged in an endless stream and have been repeatedly banned. Just like Aunt Huang's encounter, many citizens have received text messages that begin with "106", and sometimes they can receive more than a dozen a day, forming a "text message bombardment". It is understood that such text messages are generally sent by virtual numbers in groups, which are difficult to identify and block. And the text message sent by 10086 is not necessarily China Mobile. After verification, the text message received by Aunt Huang from "10086" was not sent by China Mobile, but a fraudulent text message sent by fraudsters using fake base stations and number change software. The webpage linked in the SMS is also not the official website of China Mobile, but a Trojan link made by fraudsters.

At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, a variety of points clearance, winning the lottery to grab red envelopes and other activities have also entered the peak period, in order to avoid being deceived, the police prompt, when receiving any promotional short messages containing web links and phone numbers, do not easily click on the link or call the unfamiliar number, you should first call the official customer service telephone, or through the official customer service website for further confirmation. At the same time, whenever the URL of the download software appears in the SMS, do not click easily. When encountering the situation of entering private information such as name, bank card, password, etc., it is necessary to be vigilant, and it is best to call the official customer service telephone number or log on to the official website to consult for business or participate in activities.