How hackers crack, swipe, and scam — and how to stay one step ahead of them

I

’m thinking about quitting my job at Mishpacha. I really enjoy working here, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to make a parnassah, right? And I don’t mean to brag, but I’m extremely in demand. This month alone, I’ve gotten 11 texts from recruiters, telling me that my résumé has been recommended by several companies, and that I can have a fabulous remote position there that’ll pay a cool six-plus figures a year.

Never mind that I’ve never put my résumé online in the first place. I’m sure that my stellar background teaching in Bais Yaakov and writing children’s books has set me up for tremendous financial success, and these recruiters just knew it.

Either that, or they were trying to scam little old me.

Lately, my texting inbox is pretty uniform. I’ve got: NYC politicians who think they can irritate me into voting for them; RCCS and Bonei Olam and Chai Lifeline, just checking in; my three friends who have “quit WhatsApp for good this time, I mean it”; Waterdale, sending promotions from a dozen different phone numbers so it doesn’t matter how many times I type stop; and scams.

Lots and lots of scams.

We have the recruiters I mentioned already. Then there are the texts telling me that my package couldn’t be delivered, and I should just click on that nice little link to reschedule it. The innocuous “Hello?” from an unknown number. The DMV has decided to text me to tell me that my vehicle has an outstanding traffic ticket; won’t I click their link to pay it? It’s my final notice! Do I feel the urgency?

What are these scammers trying to do here, anyway?

“There are a few things they may be trying to accomplish,” says A*, a cybersecurity specialist who works at a job so classified that she isn’t allowed to share her name in the magazine. “They could be trying to get you to press a link, which will download malware, like a virus, to your phone. It might be someone trying to get personal information from you to steal your identity. It could even be someone trying to steal money from you.”

In an MIT Technology Review article, J. Michael Skiba, a professor at Colorado State University who specializes in cybercrime and international financial fraud, explains why texting scams have become so popular. People are more likely to take a phone number seriously, compared to an email address, and feel the urge to respond. “It’s a psychological trick in that you know the text isn’t correct, but it appeals to your desire to help and say, ‘You’ve got the wrong number,’ ” Skiba says.

But even responding to one text is enough to cause problems. The spammer on the other end might then sell your phone number to other groups, who will send you even more scam texts. It never ends.

Many phones are able to report and block the number sending them spam texts. Go for it. And whatever you do, don’t click those links!