Most people have received suspicious text messages in some form or another over the last few years.  I recently received a phishing scam text that claimed to be from the Arizona Department of Transportation.  The text message read that I had an unpaid citation and referenced late penalties if not paid by a certain date.  Of course, it included a link to pay immediately.

I knew this was a scam, but the logo and the wording on the text message gave me enough concern to visit the MVD website to be sure.  Lo and behold, the AZDOT site already had a warning about this text message scam and advised anyone that received the text to delete it.

The Federal Trade Commission reports an estimated $470 million dollars lost to scams that began with a text message in 2024.  Wireless carriers have had better success with blocking robocalls, so more fraudsters are turning to text message scams.

A common type of text message scam includes receiving a text from a fraudster impersonating a person you know.  Personally, I have received this several times in the last 3 years!  Each time, the texter pretended to be an executive that I worked for or had previously worked for, which was intentional to invoke a sense of urgency to respond.

Another common scam received via text messages is the Prize or Delivery scam.  The text message informs you that you have won a prize and need to pay a fee or input information to receive or claims that you have a delivery pending and need to update information or pay a small fee for the delivery to be completed.

To help protect yourself from becoming a victim of a text message scam, never respond to texts from an unknown number.  If the text message claims to be a person, organization or company you are familiar with, contact them directly using a previously known phone number or email address or visiting their website.

Report scam attempts on FTC.gov and forward fraudulent text messages to 7726 (SPAM) to help carriers track scams.

If you have already clicked on a link, immediately change your passwords for accounts that may have been compromised.  If you have provided payment information, immediately contact your bank and/or credit card provider to help safeguard your accounts.

S. Rachel Guerrero | VP – Treasury Management Sales
O: (480) 571-7697 | C: (480) 209-3941
8501 N Scottsdale Rd. Suite 120 | Scottsdale, AZ | 85253