Your Bill Is Paid Here's A Little Gift For You

Your Bill Is Paid Here's A Little Gift For You - Verizon customers have reported receiving what appears to be a spam message from their own phone number. The report said the link would take users to a Russian television website. As posted on the Verizon Community Forum, the text reads "Free message: your bill is paid for March. Thanks, here's a little gift for you," followed by what appears to be a link made up of seemingly random characters

Table Of Contents

Source: i.redd.it

Your Bill Is Paid Here's A Little Gift For You

"I didn't click on the rando link," one netizen posted on the forum. "My bill was paid on March 7th, so I don't think Verizon sent the message. Usually those messages start with "VZW FREE MSG: "." Another user wrote that they were concerned about using the "report spam Mailers" feature to report hesitation because the text message came from their own phone number.

I don't want to report myself accidentally if possible, but I also want it to stop," they wrote. "Verizon is aware that bad actors are sending some customers spam messages that appear to originate from their own numbers," the company said in a statement. "Our teams are actively working to stop these messages and we are partnering with US law enforcement departments to identify and stop the source of this fraudulent activity."

Chris Welch of The Verge reported that the link he received took him to the state-sponsored Russian online channel "First Channel One. Verizon told Welch there was no indication that the activity was coming from Russia. Dr. James Norrie, a professor of cybersecurity and strategy at York College in Pennsylvania, told WPMT that he suspects this is a Russian tactic. "Given the current events between Russia and Ukraine, there is deep suspicion in our space

How The Scam Works

" he explained. "...this really shows the capabilities of the Russians to use cyber warfare." This appears to be a case of spoofing, which the FCC describes as "when a caller intentionally falsifies the ID of -caller who is sent information displayed to hide their identity". Often, scammers spoof a local number to make it look more legitimate. What is unusual about the Verizon case is that it uses the phone numbers of

Source: d2gg9evh47fn9z.cloudfront.net

recipients themselves against them The safest thing to do is not to click on any unsolicited link sent to you out of the blue, even if it appears to come from someone you trust. Contact them directly to confirm that they sent the message. Confused mobile phone users are receiving spam messages - many of which contain direct links to Russian news sites - that appear to be sent from their own phones.

The messages are written as if from the phone owner's carrier, with a note about their account, and then a free gift if they click on the attached link. Often, the spam link will lead to a form that the target is required to fill in to receive their "free gift", usually asking for their contact and bank details.

But many users were tricked into clicking links purportedly from their own phone reports that were directed to Russian news sites, raising concerns that the scam was part of a propaganda campaign centered on the Ukraine war. Tech news site The Verge wrote about the issue on Monday after reporter Chris Welch, whose carrier is Verizon Wireless, was targeted.

How The Scam Works

He wrote: "I received a very cheeky spam message this morning for a 'little gift' because it paid my phone bill. Normally I'd just shrug, roll my eyes and quickly delete something like this, But there's something different about this particular message: it was spoofed as from my own phone number. As far as my iPhone can tell, it's a legitimate message from me to myself. Click on the sender for details The information took me to my contact card

own...these scammers keep getting more sophisticated." He added: "Her association with your number, is much more disturbing and aggressive." While phone users are advised never to click on links that may be spam, the reporter wanted to investigate. "I received a link that took me to the website of the state television network Channel 1 Russia. Others reported similar results and said they were redirected to a Russian website when they clicked on the link," he revealed.

Source: www.investopedia.com

Spammers have been using legitimate numbers and company "spoofing" to trick phone users, but using the phone's owner's own number means he can evade the security feature of -"filter unknown messages" of the phone - since it seems to be your most secure number you know yourself.

In addition, many users can see their number and believe that only their carrier can use it to give them messages, making them more likely to believe the promise of the freebie and click on the link provided. The White House last week urged companies to encrypt their data amid possible Russian cyber attacks on the United States in response to sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

How To Avoid Text Message Scams

Many unsolved recipients of spam messages alerted others via social media or contacted their carrier to file a complaint. A Twitter user with the username @jeffNDfan posted: "So I just got a spam message from my own phone number. Guess how the world ends?" When Joshua Ashcraft tweeted from the username @joshashcraft13 "@Verizon @VerizonSupport so I'm now getting spam from my own phone number?"

Tweet Twitter user Alex Lanstein for not using their sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) program to identify keywords commonly used in fraudulent messages. Cc @VerizonSupport You guys should be able to detect spam, spoof my own vzw number, spoof your own bill payment info. Not getting premium #ai #ml pic.twitter.com/wjXXS8mYKR He posted a screenshot of a message he received from his number which read: "Free SMS: Your bill has been paid for March. Thanks, Here's a little gift

for you." There was a link he was invited to click. Tweeting the image to Verizon, he wrote: "You should be able to detect SMS [short message service] spam, jamming my own vzw [Verizon Wireless] number, tamper with your bill payment information. No need for advanced [artificial] #ai.

Source: www.sage.com

intelligence." Democratic state Sen. Bennette Misalucha of Hawaii was so concerned about spam recently that she asked Congress to step in. She told local news site KHON2 that while many Americans are aware of the dangers of email "phishing" scams, many are unaware that the same risks apply to text messages.

For More Information

Before the Russian allegations linked to some of the recent text scams were revealed, she said: "We are used to emailing. We know about phishing, but the text version is up to date. We don't like to discriminate how we receive. Our institutions There may be our phone number, and we think, "Well, that's a click." She added that local legislation does not help, calling telecommunications "more of a federal issue," adding: "

So Congress doesn't help. they have a responsibility to do so. ...they should take action because it will be a problem. Not just in Hawaii, but all over the country." A report last month from the anti-spam app RoboKiller compiled spam data for 2021. Americans received 87.8 billion spam messages, an increase

up 58% from the previous year, the report showed. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) told consumers there are three ways to deal with unwanted messages: report it on the messaging app itself, copy the message and send it to 7726 (spam), or report it to the FTC via ReportFraud. ftc.gov But it's not clear that would be useful in this case, since phone users actually report

their numbers as scam calls Newsweek reached out to the FTC and the three major US carriers -- Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile -- to seek clarification on exactly how customers should respond when using the numbers their own.