You’re being warned about the dangers of ‘smishing’ scams.
Ontario Provincial Police say ‘smishing’ is a combination of short message service (SMS) and phishing and it relies on deceptive text messages to trick recipients into clicking malicious links or calling fraudulent numbers.
Police say ‘smishing’ messages often appear to come from financial institutions, courier companies, online retailers or government agencies.
Clicking on the links can lead to identity theft, financial fraud or malware being installed on your device.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says they received almost 9,500 reports of identity fraud and over 3,900 reports of personal information theft in 2024.
Some tips to avoid ‘smishing’ include not clicking on links, replying to messages or calling numbers from unknown senders, and deleting all suspicious messages immediately.
