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Crime Legal
One of the country’s largest mobile phone operators again moved to warn customers of the dangers of responding to unsolicited text messages following a series of scams this year.
In the most recent attempt to secure confidential information, customers have been receiving texts from a UK number telling them they have won US$2m dollars and requesting they send specific details.
In another ‘smishing’ scam, O2 customers have been receiving text messages telling them they have received flowers from a secret admirer and asks them to click on a web link.
O2 has confirmed that that website has since been shut down and registered as a ‘phishing’ site.
‘Phishing’ is an attempt to trick customers into revealing personal or financial information by imitating websites they may already trust. ‘Smishing’ is the practice of phisihing using text messaging.
An O2 spokesman confirmed: “This appears to be another fraudulent ‘smishing’ text message. Such messages are sent by an unknown third party and are aimed at tricking the recipient into revealing their personal information, including passwords, on a website set up specifically for that purpose. This is an ongoing activity that, sadly, affects lots of organisations.”
“As soon as O2 is made aware of smishing texts, we immediately seek to shut down access to the fraudulent websites that are linked to within the messages,” the spokesman said
The company also advises its customers not to respond to texts from an unknown source and to avoid clicking on web links contained within such texts.
“O2 will never ask customers by SMS to disclose personal information. With any case of fraudulent activity we recommend that the customer contact their local Garda station and report the incident,” the spokesman said.
The company added: “No O2 accounts have been ‘hacked’. If texts are sent from a customer’s webtext account it is because they have been tricked into compromising their own O2 account information.”
Another scam earlier this year offered “unlimited free calls to any network” by going to a website where customers are asked for the mobile numbers and password.
O2 managed to have that website taken down but not before thousands of customers received the text purportedly sent from a mobile number belonging to an employee of a major Irish food wholesaler.
The woman was unaware her account had been accessed until se began receiving hundreds of abusive texts and voicemail messages over a two day period.