The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are warning people about a major cell phone scam.

Fraudulent messages and calls are common, and scammers are finding increasingly sophisticated ways to use the scams to bilk victims out of large sums of money. Most of the time, they claim urgency, and often the goal is to extract personal and financial information. The U.S. government is responding with a warning, as a fairly widespread scam is affecting Android and iOS users.

They are asking you to delete these messages immediately and not to fall for the demands. They are taking the warning so seriously that the FTC and FBI are informing Americans. The scam begins with a message that arrives unexpectedly on users’ phones. It demands payment for an unpaid toll, and if you don’t respond immediately, there could be consequences. They are then asked to provide personal and banking information via the (phishing) link provided. The link looks very much like it comes from a toll collection agency, and as a result, many people fall for the scammers who use the information to commit identity fraud and steal the money they have set aside.

The FTC has provided a step-by-step guide on how to spot a scam. It is worthwhile to verify the authenticity of the message by contacting the toll agency’s website or by phone. It is worth reporting the message as junk or forwarding it to 7726. Of course, this won’t help people who have already been scammed, but it could be a serious matter if the FBI has already been alerted.

So it’s always worth being careful, but we’ve already seen examples of scammers trying to get money out of us using other innocent people’s phone numbers (number spoofing).

Source: WCCFTech, FTC