Fraud & Scams 2 - Text Messages

Text scams are similar to your phone & e-mail scams but this time are only on mobile phones & devices. Fraudsters use “Sim” farms that fire out millions of random texts in the hope of finding just a few targets.

They will generally contain a link to a website which like the e-mail scam will be a fraudulent site, that is the most efficient way for them to collect your data. Sometimes they will have a phone number for you to call but this is more difficult and costly for them to manage.

The text will always tell you that you have some sort of problem, a missed delivery, a failed payment, a case of fraud is being investigated against you.

The text will usually have a telephone number attached to it usually with the prefix +44 (this denotes it may have come from abroad), for most companies the text will have their name at the heading not a number (see images below). This is not always the case so beware.

The most common texts of this nature are (similar messages are sent by Email, you should treat them the same way as Texts)

HMRC & N.I

Bank or Building Society

Subscription services (Amazon etc.), 

Delivery services (Royal Mail, Hermes, DPD, Fed Ex etc.).

Do's & Don'ts

Do's

Check with the relevant company if any delivery is due through their official website - not the link in the text.

Check if you have any packages due for delivery and what companies are due to deliver them

Delete the text

Click on any links within the text or call any telephone numbers in the text