“Hi dad” or “hi mom”, and then “I broke my phone” or “I dropped my phone” but also “I lost my phone” and the invitation to call back or send a message to another number: these are the ingredients of a scam that travels among the smartphones of Italian parents in this summer of 2023.
New, but not brand new: the forces of order and some information sites already wrote about it between last April and June, but in the middle of the holidayswith children who are perhaps longer separated from their parents, has regained strength and diffusion.
Cybersecurity Smishing alarm: SMS are the new, old weapon in the hands of cybercriminals by Emanuele Capone 11 May 2022
A scam that has been going on for months
As can be seen from the image above, the tenor of the communication, which usually arrives via SMS, is alarming and could push the person contacted to follow the instructions. Something that absolutely must not be done: already in April, the Postal Police recalled that “if you receive a message from your child who warns you that he has broken the phone and asks you to save his new number among the contacts in the address book, it could be of a scam” and that “on the first message unusual requests for money will followthe top-up of a prepaid card, the credentials to access the current account”.
The advice, then and now, is always the same, that on Italian Tech we have already given several times on similar occasions: “Don’t reply to the message, delete the conversation and, if you have saved it, delete the number from the address book”.
The Amazon High Tech Trading alarm, what is behind the telephone scam and how to defend yourself by Andrea Nepori 03 August 2023
The purpose is not to get called back
The key point to understand is that those who they appear as harmless messages they are just the beginning, a possible hook through which cybercriminals try to win the trust of their victims, to hook them to urge them to communicate personal data.
It is true that no one can steal anything from an SMS or an exchange of messages on WhatsApp, but it is equally true that the creation of a talk channel is an open port which allows the cybercriminal to build a credible story (because perhaps he gets to know the name of a child, a parent, an address, place of work and so on) on which to base possible and predictable future attacks.
As said, there is only one solution: do not click on links, do not write, do not call back and doubt constantly. And maybe try to contact the child on the number you already have, his real number. Sure he will answer as always.
@capoema