THAT TEXT YOU GOT FOR SOMEONE ELSE? IT WAS REALLY MEANT TO HOOK YOU

Don’t be a victim of the so-called ‘misdirected text’ scam, in which someone tries to trick you into responding so that they can ask you for money or get you to click on a malicious link.

- CHANDRA STEELE

“Hi, Dani. I’m sorry, my vacation was postponed. Might not be able to travel with you.” So read the text message on my phone that was the first step in a new kind of scam.

It’s one that might have appeared on your phone, too. Spam calls are easy to spot, but texts like these seem like honest mistakes that might tempt you to step in and correct, letting the sender know they’ve reached the wrong person. Which is what I did. But after a minute, it became apparent that the text message had indeed reached the correct person—which was anyone at all who’d respond and perhaps be defrauded.

The person replied with an apology, then: “Thank you, I was thinking I accidentally sent the wrong text message, so I met a kind and friendly friend, I think this is a very interesting thing, ha ha.” It’s a response that is designed to lure the recipient into a conversation, but I could sense it was not for friendly reasons. I did have to admire it as a carefully crafted piece of social engineering. But the scam seemed all the more nefarious because it targets the helpful, and if successful, will dissuade them from being so friendly in the future.

These ostensibly misdirected messages are being used to lure people into all sorts of scams, typically direct requests for money or phishing. Sometimes they’re used just to make sure a number is active, to open the way for other kinds of spammers and scammers. So here’s how to spot this particular scam and what to do if you’re a target.