Three ways to stay safe from COVID-19 Text Messaging SCAM with your phone

Some unscrupulous elements are already using the COVID-19 pandemic to spam and scam folks by taking advantage of public fears. Some folks have already been conned into disclosing sensitive personal information and money.

Hackers are on the prowl looking to prey on folks who work from home via calls and texts which offer access to potential treatments and test kits, and people have been falling for the deceit thus far.

It must be noted that various scams have also been on the loose with the COVID-19 text messaging scam just one amongst the lot. Therefore, here are three measures you can take alongside what to do and what not to do when you receive a suspicious message.

Avoid opening any links

It must be said that these scammers are very resourceful and can send messages which appear to come from a legitimate source such as a bank, medical facility, and even a wireless carrier, asking you to provide details for the verification of your account.

If you click on these links, you'll be redirected to a fake site that appears very legit and you'll see a form for the collection of your username, password, and other sensitive information. Therefore, it's advisable not to click on any links, and even if you do, try your best not to enter any genuine account details or personal information. Regardless, the main point is this! Do not click on hyperlinks on unsolicited mail messages.

Report suspicious messages to your carrier

If you receive a message whose sender cannot be verified, do well to forward the message to your carrier. Away from suspicious messages for a bit, you can get the best of online casino gaming from a trusted and reliable casino like Casimba if you ever find yourself craving for gaming adventures at an unsuspicious and credible online casino. Meanwhile, Folks in the United States can forward suspicious messages to 7726 which can be interpreted as SPAM on your phone's keypad.

The likes of Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T all accept spam reports via the aforementioned number. After the message has been forwarded, you may receive a response asking for the confirmation of the number from which the original message was sent or for additional information. Some carriers may even be proactive by blocking the number from sending messages after your report.

Leverage your phone's built-in blocking tool

Folks who can be handy with tech gadgets can also block these numbers on their own with their device's built-in tools for blocking messages. Android users will see some variations in this process due to the messaging app in use as well as the phone's brand.

Folks who use Google Messages app can begin by opening the message in question, tap on the menu button located on the top-right corner, and choose Details from the list of options that will be presented.

After this action, you'll be taken to a screen where you should opt for Block & Report Spam and confirm with OK. Once this is done, number alongside its last 10 messages will be sent to Google for analysis to help in spam detection. Meanwhile, your replies won't be sent to Google, therefore, you may just choose to block the number. If that's your choice, do well to uncheck the box near Report spam before selecting OK.

These three steps will suffice for the safety of your account information in this POST-COVID 19 era, as long as you subscribe to the practices that have been outlined.