Protecting yourself from text and SMS scams

How to protect yourself from SMS and text scams

The best way to protect yourself against scams that come via text or SMS, is to be suspicious of these kinds of messages, especially if they ask you to act quickly or provide personal information.

You can also keep vigilant for messages that make unusual requests, like asking you to change your password, or to confirm payment for a purchase you know you didn’t make.

You can learn more about how to protect yourself on the Scamwatch website.

It’s safe to ignore scam SMS and text messages

The easiest way to avoid text and SMS scams is to ignore messages unless you are certain you know the sender, or to verify the message independently.

Text and SMS scams are not personal and target people randomly. Scammers only care about people who respond to the scam and won’t waste time chasing you if you don’t reply.

There’s no way to be sure a text or SMS is legitimate

Text and SMS scams can look legitimate and often use company names and web addresses. They might also use the name of someone you know and appear in the same thread as legitimate messages. All these things can be faked through a technique called spoofing.

The best way to tell if a message is legitimate is to contact the sender directly and check whether the communication is real.

Never tap a link in a text message

While it is possible for a link in a text message to be harmless or legitimate, it’s best to be on the safe side and never tap any link you receive this way.

Links in text messages are one of the most common kinds of text and SMS scams, and you can always go to the official web page or app yourself instead.

eSafety tip

If you accidentally tap a link in a SMS, you should check the address for warning signs that it’s a fake website, such as poor grammar, requests to call a mobile phone number, and requests to provide your log in details.

It's a good idea to apply the same caution to links in search results, web pages and documents, such as PDFs.

Never tap a phone number in a message (continued)

If you tap a phone number in a text or SMS scam message, this will automatically call a scammer’s number. They may try to convince you to give up information and could even con you into providing access to your banking details and your money.

You can block further messages

If you think a message might be a scam, you can use your phone’s block features to stop getting messages from that number.

Your phone might also automatically detect unwanted messages (called spam) and put them in a spam folder.

Well done!

This is the end of the Protecting yourself from text and SMS scams activity. You’ve learned to be suspicious of unexpected text messages, and how to recognise the traps that scammer’s set.

In the next activity, you can find out What to do if you think you’re a victim of a text or SMS scam.