Part 2 of 2

We think financial lost as a result of scams, phishing and smishing schemes target other age groups, not ours.

The data shows different age groups are susceptible to different types of fraud. Here are some shocking statistics related to fraud targeted towards our cell phones via texts.

• In 2022, people between the age of 18-44 are most likely to lose money to phone scams.
• Of this group, over 55% are men and about 42% were women. The other 3% chose not to declare their sex.

WHY ARE TEXT MESSAGES INCREASING?
On Dec. 30, 2019, President Trump signed a bill called the TRACED ACT. This bill put rules in place to deter criminal robocall violations, but many scammers are working around this bill by sending out text messages instead. Some of the requirements of the act include:

• The FCC must require voice service providers to develop call authentication technologies.
• The FCC must protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls or texts from a caller using an unauthenticated number.
• The FCC must implement consumer protections for exempted classes of robocalls.

Of course, the worst violators are nefarious organizations that do not care about adhering to legal guidelines.

OUR ADVICE
Take your time before you click. Stop, Look and Think!
If you can, delete the text before you click on it (recognizing that the USPS does not send texts from the Philippines or any other countries).

If you opened the text, close it and delete it immediately. When deleting it, label it as spam or request the number to be Blocked (if your text app allows such an option).

In any case, never click on links from communications that are unsolicited.

Whatever your financial need, we’re here to help.