How you can protect yourself
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 4:03 am
Two years ago, the social network Facebook suffered a data breach in which the data of more than 500 million users was stolen. The data sets included the name, email address, telephone number and relationship status of users. Passwords, however, were not affected.
Spam SMS with link to malware
For some time now, fraudsters have been actively exploiting this data to send spam SMS messages. This has been particularly common in recent days. In broken German, for example, the recipient is told that a rcs data usa postal package is ready for them to pick up. Some recipients are even addressed by their first name in the message, which is intended to suggest that the sender and recipient know each other ("social engineering"). The SMS contains a link that the SMS tells you to click on.
However, this is strongly discouraged. Clicking on the link downloads and installs malware, provided it is compatible with the smartphone. This can result in your mobile number being used to send spam SMS messages from then on. Access to the phone's address book has also been observed, and the phone numbers of contacts were apparently used as supposed senders.
As a further consequence, the smartphone can even become part of a botnet due to the malware. The smartphone is then used remotely for future criminal activities without the user noticing anything. This is what the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office points out, which has created an information page on the subject that is constantly updated. There you will find current information on the subject as well as instructions on how to protect yourself from the SMS messages mentioned and from installing malware.
Spam SMS with link to malware
For some time now, fraudsters have been actively exploiting this data to send spam SMS messages. This has been particularly common in recent days. In broken German, for example, the recipient is told that a rcs data usa postal package is ready for them to pick up. Some recipients are even addressed by their first name in the message, which is intended to suggest that the sender and recipient know each other ("social engineering"). The SMS contains a link that the SMS tells you to click on.
However, this is strongly discouraged. Clicking on the link downloads and installs malware, provided it is compatible with the smartphone. This can result in your mobile number being used to send spam SMS messages from then on. Access to the phone's address book has also been observed, and the phone numbers of contacts were apparently used as supposed senders.
As a further consequence, the smartphone can even become part of a botnet due to the malware. The smartphone is then used remotely for future criminal activities without the user noticing anything. This is what the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office points out, which has created an information page on the subject that is constantly updated. There you will find current information on the subject as well as instructions on how to protect yourself from the SMS messages mentioned and from installing malware.