The Montana Office of Consumer Protection is warning Montanans about a texting scam that has been circulating around the state. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox explains.
“Folks on their mobile devices and cell phones are receiving text messages that look somewhat legitimate,” said Fox. “Typically they look like they come from a bank, credit card company, or some other financial institution. Often times they have a link to a website on the text and sometimes they may be soliciting personal information through the text message.”
Fox says the scam texts may carry malware, and that the operation is likely a phishing scheme to gather private information. Anyone who receives these messages should notify the office of Consumer Protection and their cellphone carrier.
“All of the smart phones out there have a function where if you hold your finger down on a text message it will give you an option to forward it to someone else,” Fox said. “You can forward it to your cell phone carrier at 7726 and that reports spam to the carrier and alerts the carrier that this scam is going on.”
Those that receive these texts should also pay close attention to their cell phone bill to ensure there haven’t been extra charges.
From KGVO