Beware of smishing! SMS fraud, a headache for telecom operators
SMS fraud, or "smishing", is on the rise in many countries, fuelled by the increasing use of smartphones. This is a challenge for telecom operators who are meeting at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the sector's biggest annual gathering, in Barcelona this week.
Smishing is a cybersecurity attack carried out over mobile text messaging, also known as SMS phishing which target both individuals and corporations.
The name is a play on the term "phishing", the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers
"In a smishing attack, cybercriminals send deceptive text messages to lure victims into sharing personal or financial information, clicking on malicious links, or downloading harmful software or applications," Stuart Jones of US cybersecurity firm Proofpoint told AFP.
It has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the explosion in the use of smartphones for administrative procedures and internet purchases.
According to a study carried out in ten countries by the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), a telecoms industry trade association, 39 percent of consumers were confronted with at least one SMS scam attempt last year.
"It is a very serious issue globally," said Janet Lin, head of development at Taiwanese cybersecurity firm PINTrust, during a panel discussion on the subject at MWC on Monday on the first day of the congress.
An average of between 300,000 to 400,000 SMS attacks take place every day, according to cybersecurity firm Proofpoint, and that figure is expected to rise.
In the United States alone, "smishing" cost consumers $330 million in 2022, more than double the losses reported in the previous year and nearly five times the amount lost in 2019, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Smishing is considered more dangerous than e-mail scams because it is more difficult to identify the
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