5 tricks to know if the SMS sent to you by your bank is genuine or is from a scammer.

Pedro_P

▼ Today, we are used to doing everything through cell phones, including banking.And it is so common for banks to communicate with us through so-called "mobile banking" that some of them do not even have physical branches anymore.
It makes sense: it is faster and more efficient and allows us to solve problems in a simple way through an application.
But often scammers take advantage of this new trend,so there are many cases of fraudulent messages that, in reality, are not the entity, but a malicious hacker.
That message that announces the new terms and conditions of your bank or that asks you if your message number is correct, is it really that of a scammer?
The computer expert Richard Thomas, of the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, showed the BBC how convincing these deceptive texts can be and how to detect them.
Many scammers use software programs capable of immediately sending hundreds of messages at once via the Internet."They look perfectly natural," explains Thomas.
It is a smishing fraud, a combination ofSMS andphishing,which occurs when hackers attempt to pose as an entity or person of trust to the victim.
Sometimes, it is difficult to detect them.But there are some signs to which you can be careful not to fall into the trap.
1. It asks you to click on a link
Fraudulent messages usually include a link and encourage the recipient to click on it.
Of course, you should never answer or enter thelink: "I never click on the link of a text message," explains Thomas.
They can also ask you to download a file or a software (presumably, malicious).Do not do it.
2. Includes a phone number to call
"Sometimes, those messages include telephone numbers," adds the specialist."If so, do not even think about calling that number."
"If you want to contact your bank, check the phone number on the back of the card or on the website of the entity."
3. Ask you for the PIN code or your password
You should never give keys or personal and confidential information through a text message.
"A bank would never contact you to ask for your PIN," explains Faye Lipson, a journalist with the British consumer organization Which is on the company's website.
4. The number appears on certain web pages
Another way to leave doubts about the authenticity of asmishingmessage is to check if it appears on the websites where these types of scams are reported, and that they are open to all Internet users.
You can also put the number in quotes in Google or another search engine to find out if the number appears in any website.
5. You receive the message without coming to mind
Thomas says that fraudulent messages usually come from nowhere: "They are usually received without coming to mind."
This is because itis often a machine that randomly chooses the numbers to which it sends messages.
You often read in them that the bank updated the terms and conditions of the service or that you have to verify your data.As a general rule, they are usually excuses to access your account.
If you suspect, it is also recommended that you block the number from where they sent you the message to not be in the scammers' network.
"Never assume that, because it is an entity, the message is authentic," says Lipson.
The specialist also recommends not to give your number on social networks or respond to messages with "STOP" or similar words to stop sending, "so you will only be able to inform scammers that your line is active."

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bsk

Good info, thanks for sharing

Injohny

Really useful.

rahula1234

Really useful information , thanks for the share