The Jacksonville Police Department says that smishing scams are being reported in large numbers in the area.
“Smishing” or a mashup of SMS – for “short message service” – and phishing – uses deception in text messages as a way to gain personal information in order to exploit the victim. A typical smishing scam message impersonates an institution or business and usually attempts to strong-arm individuals via threats of civil action or arrest unless they provide banking information, identity information, login details, and payment or all four in order to avoid prosecution, arrest, or another negative action.
According to a press release from JPD Commander of Investigations Kyle Chumley, smishing has been hitting cellphone users in the Jacksonville area from an entity claiming to be from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
The text message that someone gets says that recipient has evaded a toll or that they have an unpaid toll on their account. The message then provides a website that asks the recipient to click on to pay the unpaid toll. Chumley says the URL provided in the text message while looking very similar, doesn’t belong to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority but instead pilfers personal information, banking information, and other login details from a person’s phone if they click on the link.
Chumley says the public should never respond to these text messages nor should you click on any links. He says when in doubt, reach out to the entity directly by phone to ensure authenticity of any messages or requests for payment.
Chumley recommends that the public report these type of scams to the Jacksonville Police Department and to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.