The FBI sends out an urgent warning: You risk losing your accounts if you don't delete these messages from your phone
All cell phone users have been warned by the FBI to remove a number of questionable text messages that are being received by millions of Americans, but may also be received by people worldwide.
These phony messages pose as official notifications of unpaid fines, tolls, traffic infractions, or warnings from banks or credit cards. Some even imitate government organizations like the Department of Traffic.
These messages frequently contain links to urgent payment requests, but they are fraudulent because all of the links point to cloned pages intended to steal banking and personal information rather than to legitimate websites.
They now confirm that the threat has started to affect Android devices, even though the attack initially primarily targeted iPhones.
References to this language were discovered in the source code, and cybersecurity firm Check Point claims that organized criminal groups based in China are the source of these messages.
This phishing campaign is extensive. Up to 60 million messages can be sent each month by a single criminal organization.
This is particularly concerning because, according to the FBI, the number of these attacks rose by 800% in just the first week of this month.
We'll tell you that these threats are urgent-style texts that attempt to sound official and offer terms for immediate payment in order to help you recognize them.
Therefore, never reply to these messages, and don't even consider opening them, much less clicking on the links they include.