Last week, a 50-year-old woman from the Cloppenburg district received a text message with a link that she was supposed to click on under some pretext. She complied with this request. As the process progressed, the unknown fraudsters were able to collect sensitive data and financial damage occurred.

Smishing is a combination of the words SMS and phishing.
In this type of cybercrime, the victim receives a fake SMS that contains a link that redirects the user to a website. This form is already known from so-called phishing emails. Sensitive data is then requested on this website or malware is installed.
How can you protect yourself against this?
- Whatever you do, don't tap on the link!
- Ignore the text message and do not respond to it
- Delete the message.
- If your phone asks whether you want to install an app, do not confirm under any circumstances.
- Set up a third-party block through your mobile provider.
What to do once the app has been installed?
- Put your phone in airplane mode
- Call your mobile operator and inform them of the problem.
- Also ask whether costs have already been incurred.
- Get a third-party block set up immediately.
- Call or stop by your nearest police station.
- And save all your data, images, videos and possibly settings in a backup.
- You should then reset your smartphone to factory settings. This will delete all apps and data that were not present when you purchased the phone.
- Change all passwords, including enabling two-factor authentication on all accounts that support it.
In addition to this form of crime, fraudsters still try to use WhatsApp or telephone calls to persuade people to make transfers, for example, under the pretext or a given emergency. Unfortunately, every now and then with success.
There have been similar cases here again in the past few days. Please also speak to your family and friends who do not have access to obtain these prevention instructions themselves.
Source: Cloppenburg/Vechta police station
Also read: Beware of fake SMS! There is no such thing as a “bought gift”
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