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Cybercriminals Have a Weird New Way to Target You With Scam Texts


Scammers are now using “SMS blasters” to send out up to 100,000 texts per hour to phones that are tricked into thinking the devices are cell towers. Your wireless carrier is powerless to stop them.

“This is essentially the first time that we have seen large-scale use of mobile radio-transmitting devices by criminal groups,” says Cathal Mc Daid, VP of technology at telecommunication and cybersecurity firm Enea, who has been tracking the use of SMS blasters. Kight says that tackling SMS blasters involves telecom operators and government regulators being aware of the devices, law enforcement agencies taking actions, as well as people recognizing and reporting scam messages to the relevant authorities. Ben Hurley, a detective sergeant with the City of London’s Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, which is investigating cases locally, says that while the delivery is different, the actual scams themselves haven’t changed.

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