The latest Verizon phishing scam was reportedly affecting many subscribers through a malicious text message.
The attack was similar to what T-Mobile customers experienced previously. At that time, there were 48 million users that suffered from the data breach.
According to the victims, there is a particular phone number that people should avoid. There's a possibility that the unsolicited texts from an unknown sender could retrieve users' data without their permission.
Verizon Subscribers Should Avoid This Phone Number
According to Phone Arena's report on Saturday, Oct.9, Verizon subscribers have started to receive malicious messages from unidentified senders. The phishing scam involves sending texts to a recipient through a suspicious phone number.
The specific contact, which is 562-666-1159, notifies users that they have already paid the bill for the previous month. Particularly, the exact message says "Verizon Free Msg: Sept bill is paid. Thanks, (first name of the customer)! Here's a little gift for you."
Phone Arena wrote that most Verizon users have already finished paying their bills for September. For this reason, the old invoice hinted that the message was completely bogus on the part of the hacker.
Furthermore, it would be unlikely for Verizon to send a gift to the subscribers who have paid their bills in advance. This recent phishing attack could mean that the user's information is on the verge of being stolen.
The cybercriminals behind the text message will ask subscribers to provide their personal information. If a subscriber falls for this trap, his or her security number, bank account number, and other confidential information would be hacked.
If this happens, the necessary details of a subscriber's Verizon account would be accessed by the threat actor. The hackers would order a phone that the subscriber needs to pay once the scam succeeds.
What To Do If You Receive a Phishing Message
From another article written by The Daily Star this week, the state Office of Information Technology Services has released some precautions just in case hackers launch a phishing scam.
First, confirm the sender's information through the phone numbers. Make sure that it came from a trusted source or else. Additionally, watch out for syntax and grammatical errors in the message. If it contains poor spelling or grammar, the text could likely be a phishing tactic.
You can also check the corresponding URL if it properly matches the website. One more thing to do when dealing with phishing scams is to refrain from clicking a malicious link.
Previous Phishing Scams
Last August, a new UPS delivery scam took place where the recipient received a message telling about the appointment of his/her product delivery. The attacker will also inform the victim that there are some problems with the shipping that's why the product will not arrive at the said date.
In September, an email scam hit both Gmail and Outlook users. Just like the previous UPS scam, the cybercriminal will send an email indicating that a person has purchased an item.
Later, the receiver will be instructed to call a phone number from a bogus employee on Amazon or Paypal. The scammer will proceed to collect the data on the process.
Related Article: Verizon Data Breach Report Details How Threat Actors Commit Cybercrimes
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joseph Henry
