A surge in ‘smishing’ incidents, where fraudsters send text messages posing as delivery services, government agencies, or familiar businesses, prompts urgent alerts designed to provoke immediate action from its recipient.

These smishing text messages often lure recipients with claims of free gifts requiring only a nominal “shipping fee” or with warnings of “suspicious activity” on accounts, urging the verification of personal information via provided links.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, smishing scams cost Americans $330 million in 2022, with an average loss of $1,000 per victim.

[I’m getting more restrictive on receiving texts on my cellphone after a raft of these ‘smishing’ attempts came my way this summer. I didn’t know about some of the ways to keep them from reaching me at all, so this article is quite helpful in that regard. Some of this applies to e-mail as well. It’s a good PSA as we move into the holidays. — Ed]