What is SMS Spoofing? How to Prevent It?

SMS spoofing is a technique mostly used by scammers to send fake text messages while making it seem like it came from a trusted contact. Scammers use it to spread malware, direct victims to malicious websites, or trick the victims into transferring their money.

Most of the time, scammers use WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram to carry out this scam or send direct messages on your mobile phone or email. When you click the link in these spoof messages, malware spreads to your device and starts stealing sensitive information, such as bank and personal details.

Some common traits like spelling or grammar errors, suspicious requests in text, and unusual phone numbers of senders are signs of spoofing text.
 

• Message from Suspicious Phone Number: If you receive a suspicious message from a familiar-looking contact, cross-check the number in your mobile phone’s directory. If the numbers are different, even though the names appear similar to the ones in your contact list, it’s likely a scam.
• Spelling or Grammar Mistakes in Message: Scammers intentionally include mistakes or grammar errors to get past spam filters and reach their intended victims. For example: “Urgent! Your account has been temporarily suspended due to suspicious activity. Please click on this link to verify your identity: (link)”.
  
  In this example, you can see the spelling error for “temporarly” when it should be “temporarily,” with a link directing you to a harmful website to steal your personal information. You can also look for substitution words like “F1N4NCE” for “finance,” “FRE3” for “free,” and more.
• Use of Urgent Tone: Scammers often try to manipulate victims by using fear or urgency to pressure them to act quickly. For instance, scammers can pretend to be from your bank and inform you that your account will be locked unless you provide your PIN immediately.
• Sketchy Links or Attachments in Message: Most text message phishing contains malicious links or attachments, such as bit.ly or tinyurl.com, that can infect your phone and steal your personal information once you click on them. They can also include invalid characters like “?” or numbers in a URL.
• Inaccessible Sender Fields: In genuine text messages, the sender field is usually clickable, revealing the sender’s phone number or name for verification. However, scammers send spoofed texts with unclickable sender fields to prevent their identity leaks.
• Unrealistic Lucrative Offers: Scammers often send lucrative offers like huge cash prizes, expensive gifts, or even weight loss scams to lure victims. For example, you can get a text like - Limited-time offer on expensive products, Win an iPhone 16, Win a million dollars/ car/house, Win a trip to Paris, and more.

Some common types of SMS spoofing texts include false bank impersonation, package delivery scams, fake money transfer requests, fake security alerts, and romance scams.

In this method, scammers send text messages claiming to be from delivery services like USPS (United States Postal Service), Amazon, and UPS (United Parcel Service), asking you to confirm the delivery details. When you open and press on the link, it directs you to a fake site to steal your identity or make unauthorized credit card charges.

Here, a fake bank employee contacts you and convinces you to disclose your bank details or social security numbers. Scammers typically send texts asking you to verify a large transaction that you never made.

cammers may also use personal information to harass you and even manipulate or threaten to send money. They often use fake emergencies involving friends or family and trap you to send money to their accounts.

In this type of scam, fraudsters claim they transferred money to your account accidentally and politely ask you to return it to a different account. However, not many may know this, but apps like Venmo and Cash App refund accidental transactions upon request. But, when you return the cash you just received, you lose your own money, too.

Scammers use this form of spoofing to send threatening and unwanted messages to extort money. They can use your family members' or friends' names to urge and take immediate action, faking emergencies.

Businesses are at great risk of SMS spoofing in several ways, like confidential information leaks, hacking, and potential financial losses. One of the most common issues is when an employee clicks on a malicious link sent via SMS spoof; scammers tend to gain access to company systems and customer data.

When this happens, fraudsters can implant viruses to crash a company’s entire digital infrastructure or swindle customers. Moreover, scammers may also demand payment and ransomware in return for data after overtaking the company’s system.

This can lead the company to lose customer trust and loyalty, potentially financial loss for damage repair, privacy leaks, and confidential information about vendors, employees, or even competitors. On top of lost time and money, the company’s reputation may suffer a serious blow, resulting in loss of future business.

You can safeguard yourself from SMS spoofing by blocking unknown numbers and avoiding clicking links on messages. For business purposes, you can use software that provides SMS filtering and call-blocking features that suit your business.

Here are some tips to prevent SMS spoofing as an individual:
 

1. Block unknown numbers: If you are receiving spoofed texts from unknown numbers, block them and restrict those numbers from sending you more messages in the future.
    
2. Avoid clicking SMS links: Avoid opening links or attachments sent from unknown numbers.
    
3. Beware of password reset texts: Do not open or respond to password reset messages from banks, as they normally do not ask for this via text.
    
4. Never share personal information: Never share your personal details, like your contact address or bank account number, over text messages or calls with unknown callers.
    
5. Enable spam filters: Install a spam-blocking app or turn on your phone’s spam filters to stop spam texts.
    
6. Verify and don’t respond to sketchy requests: When you get a text from suspicious numbers, don’t reply urgently.

Here are some tips to prevent SMS spoofing as a business:
 

1. Monitor and Filter Incoming SMS: Actively analyze incoming text messages to identify and block suspicious messages that appear to be from a legitimate source but are actually sent by scammers.
    
2. Educate Your Customers: Prevent customers from getting scammed by empowering customers to identify and report suspicious messages that appear to be from a company but its not.
    
3. Secure Your Internal Systems: Prohibit staff and employees from sharing business information through messaging services unless the form of communication is verified as a legitimate communication platform.
    
4. Use Dedicated Business Numbers for SMS: Using a dedicated number helps businesses prevent getting scammed by letting others from impersonating your business.

SMS spoofing is a scamming technique in which scammers manipulate the senders’ ID to make messages appear like they are from trusted contacts. They can send messages on mobile phones, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms and trick you into stealing sensitive information, extorting money, or spreading malware.

You can prevent SMS spoofing by blocking unknown numbers and avoiding clicking harmful SMS links sent from suspicious numbers. Moreover, you can avoid SMS spoofing by upgrading your phone system to Calilio’s cloud telephony. It can separate unwanted messages and block unwanted numbers to prevent them from texting you in the future.

You can stop SMS spoofing by blocking suspicious numbers and not sharing your number on social platforms so that unknown people do not get your number.

Yes, SMS spoofing is mostly illegal in many jurisdictions. While some may use it as a harmless prank, many use it for fraud, like phishing scams or extorting money.

Yes, some businesses may also use SMS spoofing for legitimate purposes like sending customer notifications or running marketing campaigns.

Yes, phone spoofing can be traced, although it is quite difficult. You can try using the Caller ID number to identify the number and find out whether the number is accurate or not.

No, smishing and SMS spoofing are not the same, but are closely related. Smishing is a form of phishing that uses text messages or SMS to gather personal information. Meanwhile, spoofing is the act of disguising identity with fraudulent intentions.