Security experts warned people about a spate of banking scams in which hackers send texts to phones in an attempt to steal money. Known as 'smishing' - a combination of phishing and SMS - these scams try to trick users with messages that appear to be legitimate alerts from banks. Worryingly, criminals are getting much better at making these messages look genuine. They send you messages in the same conversation 'thread' that your bank uses, making it very hard to tell what's real. A popular tactic of scammers is to send warnings about 'suspicious' or 'usual' activity in users' accounts (see the bottom message in the screenshot left). These messages emphasise how important it is that the victim takes action immediately, normally by transferring their money into a new account. Often this threat appears serious enough to persuade people to click links or ring numbers, where the criminals are waiting to steal their password and other personal information.
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