You may have heard the news today about an SMS scam telling you that you’ve won tickets to the Toy Show? Well we want to find out what’s going on…
What’s all this about an SMS Toy Show scam?
Yeah, it’s pretty worrying stuff alright, especially as so many people tune in for the annual show. According to a report by tech expert Paul C Dwyer, a group of cyber thieves from the UK are planning a mass scam hoping to dupe people into believing they’ve won coveted tickets to this year’s Late Late Toy Show.
No way? So how do they plan on scamming us?
According to Paul C Dwyer, the gang will use a tactic known as ‘smishing’, which involves sending out fake text messages telling people they’ve won tickets to the Toy Show. Apparently, there are two messages that the gang plans on using. One of which says “Congratulations you have won two tickets to the Late Late Toy Show, call xxxxxxxx to claim your tickets now.”
The second message is aimed at smart phone users as it attempts to redirect you to a website where you can ‘register’ to claim your tickets.
So how much are they trying to steal?
Well we’re not too sure how much money they had their eyes on. But according to Paul C Dwyer, the gang would have had to spend around £30,000 to set up fake phone numbers and to send out 1m text messages. So they were obviously hoping for quite a bit in return. If you call the number attached to the fake text message then you’ll be directed to a premium rate line where you’ll be put on hold for God knows how long while being charged €2.50 a minute. The smart phone text redirects you to a website which asks for your details and a €20 deposit to cover the courier charges – but we’ve a feeling that they might take a bit more than €20 from your account.
What should I do if I get one of the messages?
Delete it and never look back. As the old saying goes ‘if it’s too good to be true it probably is’ and in this case, it most definitely is.
