There was clearly something fishy afoot when Beth, a disabled 50-year-old from North Carolina who asked us not to use her last name, received two text messages saying she had money available to add to her phone’s digital wallet. One message read, “Beth put this in your wallet and use it whenever.” The other said. “The balance on this account is yours. no be to share [sic].” Both messages included hyperlinks.
Beth had just become the target of “smishing,” an increasingly common tactic criminals are using to commit fraud. Instead of clicking on the embedded links, Beth deleted the messages and reported them to the Better Business Bureau, a business watchdog. “Money doesn’t just drop in your lap,” she told Consumer Reports, explaining why the messages… Consumer Reports