Smishing has become more popular in the Philippines during the pandemic. Sen. Joel Villanueva is describing these as an “epidemic of text scams.” They offer anything from no-collateral loans to well-paying jobs as well as astronomical raffle prizes.
How do criminals get their hands on all the contact information needed? One suspect is the contact-tracing and health declaration form, a piece of paper that people have had to fill out with personal details before they could set foot in any establishment during the peak of the pandemic.
The text messages with dubious offers are a form of “smishing.” This is a combination of SMS (short message service) and phishing, a way to trick phone users to share sensitive personal data, including passwords, bank accounts, or credit card numbers. Some sites may even introduce malware to gain access and harvest information from one’s phone and computer.
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