You have been warned. Google says a staggering 94% of Android users are at risk from messaging attacks, which have evolved into “a sophisticated, global enterprise designed to inflict devastating financial losses and emotional distress on unsuspecting victims.”
In the last year, “scams drained $400 billion from consumers worldwide.” It’s little surprise 73% of users are “very or extremely concerned about mobile scams,” and 84% “believe mobile scams are very or extremely damaging to society as a whole.”
Google has issued a new “Behind the Screens” report from Android on text-based scams,” as part of its campaign to promote the anti-scam innovations now built into Android. Specifically filtering dangerous messages and even now phone calls.
You will have seen countless warnings in the last year, as this billion-dollar threat industry targets you via unpaid toll, undelivered package and unexpected refund messages, or any number of other urgent, unignorable lures. Each one with a call to action and a link, which will steal your data, your money, even your identity.
We know many of these threats emanate from Chinese organized criminal gangs. They’re often executed by banks of smartphones and consumer SIMs in the Philippines and other places within easy reach of those gangs, well beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement agencies, which have been rendered helpless in stemming this tide.
That’s why it has fallen to Google and Apple to change how your Android or iPhone works, to stop these attacks hitting your message inbox or your phone’s screen.
“With billions of mobile devices in active use across the globe,” Google says, “we have unique visibility into how scams emerge, spread, and evolve.” And that means “we have unique visibility into how scams emerge, spread, and evolve.”
More than 75% of all these text scams fall into just three categories. Fake job offers and hiring processes, fake unpaid bills and demands for payment, and fake investment schemes, usually but not always related to some form of cryptocurrency.
You should be wary of any and all unsolicited texts and you should never click any links, but clearly if a text is in one of those three categories, it’s almost certainly a scam.
The key advice is do not reply — certainly do not reply immediately — to any text you’re not expecting from someone you don’t know or can’t verify.
“Be cautious with all messages from unfamiliar numbers,” Google warns. And if you can’t verify the sender, do not engage. “Scammers create a false sense of urgency to prevent you from thinking things through. If a message feels suspicious, slow down, pause the conversation, and talk it over with a friend or colleague before proceeding.”
You’re also warned — echoing recent alerts from countless law enforcement agencies — that “legitimate businesses and government agencies will not demand instant action or payment over text message.” And regardless of the lure, never share personal details, give remote access to your screen, or click on unknown links or attachments.”
