The federal police warned on their Twitter account this Friday morning, that “cybercriminals plan to launch several attacks in the form of smishing in the coming days or even weeks”, relaying information from the Belgian Cybersecurity Center (CCB), which calls on the population to be vigilant.
According to the CCB, SMS is an increasingly popular channel for sending messages that contain fraudulent links, with the idea of scamming people. This new form of phishing has been dubbed “smishing”, a portmanteau of the terms “SMS” and “phishing”. “In recent weeks, smishing is on the rise and other attacks in the form of smishing are expected in the coming weeks”, inform the authorities.
“Cybercriminals exploit the news to titillate your curiosity and get you to click on links. By using smishing, crooks are dangling things related to the coronavirus crisis,” says the Center for Cyber Security. “Messages supposedly coming from the authorities, a bank or a delivery service also continue to circulate. Don’t fall for it and always be critical.”
The CCB advises not to click on the link in an SMS, or not to fill in the fields appearing on the screen and to cut off all interaction with the site. Fraudulent messages can be sent to [email protected]. Screenshots can be sent to [email protected].
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