You know this by now. The threat from malicious text messages has never been worse. Fueled by Chinese organized criminal gangs and AI, this now targets smartphone users on an industrial level, sending billions of texts armed with dangerous links.
Google warns that “one trending tactic among scammers involves sending fraudulent text messages, either directly to your phone or through messaging apps and social media sites.” And millions are falling victim. “57% of adults experienced a scam in the past year,” Google says, “with 23% reporting money stolen.”
The company’s latest update helps you stay safe, flagging dangerous messages in real-time so you can delete them from your smartphone. “To help you spot these scams,” Google says, “we’ve now added new capabilities to Circle to Search and Lens that will help you see the telltale signs so you can avoid getting deceived.”
The update is primarily for Android, where you can “simply long press the home button or navigation bar of your Android device (and) circle the suspicious text.”
But you can can also access the feature “through Lens, via the Google app (Android and iOS) with three short steps: “Take a screenshot of the message; open Lens in the Google app; and tap the screenshot.”
The update uses Google’s AI “to assess whether the message is likely a scam. You’ll see an overview with guidance and insights including suggested next steps. This capability is available globally in Circle to Search and Lens, and will appear when our systems have high confidence in the quality of the response.”
As soon as you have been warned the message is likely a scam, delete it from your phone. That’s the clear advice from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Do not leave these threats on your phone, even if the linked domains only persist for a few days.
Both Google and Apple have released new filters to block these texts from your inbox, and networks are doing more to kill them even before they hit your phone. But this is a volume game. While a high percentage of messages are caught, enough get through to make this the most serious threat you’re likely to see on your phone.
