March 31, 2022 10:49 PMUpdated 7 hours ago
By: News 12 staff
Verizon customers have reported receiving mysterious messages sent from their own phone number over the past few days.
The lyrics say “Your bill is paid” and “There is a gift for you”.
“It had my picture, it had my phone number, but it was mailed to myself,” says Plainview’s Neil Miller.
Security experts say most people are aware of scam text messages, but a message coming from your own number might put some people off.
“That’s the trick,” says Mark Ostrowski of Check Point Technologies. “That’s what scammers are trying to create — that level of trust”
Ostrowski says the link is designed to steal your money or identity.
The Federal Trade Commission says if you receive a fraudulent text message, you should report it to them.
Verizon says it is aware of this news and is now working with law enforcement to stop the fraudulent activity.
The company says don’t click the link.
Statement from Verizon:
“As part of a recent scam scheme, bad actors have been sending text messages to some Verizon customers that appear to be from the customer’s own number. In the last 48 hours, our company has made significant efforts to limit current activity. However, SMS spam scams are a problem affecting virtually all wireless carriers in recent months. We are actively working with others in our industry and with US law enforcement agencies in an investigation aimed at ending these scammers and their illegal Identify scammers and stop action. We will continue this work on behalf of our customers. Furthermore, we have no evidence of Russian involvement.”
T-Mobile and AT&T tell News 12 that they don’t see this type of fraudulent text from customers’ own numbers on their networks