Don’t delete scam texts – send them to 7726 and become a scambuster

Apparently, I’ve missed a delivery and a call from my boss. I have two text messages on my phone telling me this but, curiously, no missed calls. I’m also not expecting any parcels.

You may have guessed by now that both are scam texts — which are plaguing all our phones.

Like a model citizen, I duly forwarded these texts to the number 7726.

Sending on scam texts will alert your mobile provider to investigate — and block — the number

This free service was introduced by phone operators in 2014, and the digits 7726 spell out ‘spam’ on a phone’s keypad.

The idea is that by sending on scam texts it will alert your mobile provider to investigate — and block — the number.

Information can then be passed to police and national security agencies, who are able to join the dots and track down those responsible for sending them.

But until now, I wasn’t entirely sure if my efforts were making a difference. Does anyone really do anything with these messages — or do they disappear into a black hole?

Well, Money Mail can today reveal that around 500 scams a month are being eradicated thanks to members of the public forwarding suspicious texts to 7726.

One fraudulent text stopped in its tracks encouraged people to apply for an Omicron PCR test and linked to a fake website using the NHS logo.

Another ripped off the branding of courier service DHL and told people to download an app to track their parcels.

A third convincingly replicated the online banking sign-in for Santander — even shamelessly including a warning to customers to beware of coronavirus scams.

A phone plague

Scam texts are designed to catch you out when you’re in a rush and not concentrating. Many people would be quick to listen to a voicemail if they thought it was from their boss, for example.

Crooks typically rely on victims mindlessly clicking on a link in the text that takes them to a fraudulent website.

From here, they can infiltrate a person’s phone to access their private information using malware.

Or they will use a fake webpage to ask for personal details, such as your age and home address.

Often, they impersonate bank staff or even police officers over the phone to trick a victim into transferring money.

Details gleaned at an earlier stage of the fraud give scammers’ lies an air of credibility and by the time victims realise it all began with a suspicious text, it’s too late.

Around seven million adults receive more than ten scam texts a month, according to research companies Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now.

And for a significant minority, the effects can be devastating. People have surrendered information including bank account passwords and suffered huge losses.

Nearly one million people fell for a scam message or phone call over a three-month period last autumn, according to communications watchdog Ofcom.

Forward-thinking

Last year, in dribs and drabs, I began sending the fraudulent messages I’d received on to 7726. But as the frequency of scam texts pinging on my mobile picked up, so, too, did my resolve to act.

I forwarded three to 7726 in May alone, which had been sent just days apart. All of them came from different numbers. Admittedly, I have been guilty of just deleting some texts. As I said, I was never sure if anyone was picking them up at the other end of 7726.

But since then, I’ve learned that some 12,000 scams reported via 7726 have been removed by the National Cyber Security Centre in the past two years.

When you forward a suspicious text, your mobile network sends it to a third party called Proofpoint for analysis. This firm typically handled around one million fraudulent text messages every month last year.

Computer programs sift and analyse the text messages, but the stream of reports are also supervised and fine-tuned on a daily basis by a team of ‘threat engineers’ and ‘data scientists’.

If a reported number is indeed a nuisance — for example, if it includes a link to a fraudulent website — it alerts the networks, which can block it to protect other mobile phone users.

Scammers regularly change handsets or SIM cards to avoid detection. So, your operator can block the same content being sent by different numbers, too.

When a scam text contains a link, the web page address is fed to the National Cyber Security Centre, which can then take it down from the internet.

Information is also shared with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The ICO can take action against legitimate companies sending nuisance messages. Meanwhile, the SFO can investigate and prosecute highly complex fraud cases.

But there’s scope for more scammers to be thwarted. Eight in ten people are unaware 7726 exists, according to Ofcom’s research.

And given that most people receive fraudulent texts at some point, the results could be better.

Its success rests on more people using 7726 every time they receive a scam message. It costs us nothing to play our part.

More information could also lead to action against the culprits. At the moment, few scammers end up facing justice in the courts. However, steps taken by the public have helped to stamp out some frauds and snare the criminals.

The 7726 service was instrumental in catching text scammer Abdisalaam Dahir, a then 20-year-old computer science student from Enfield, North London.

He defrauded the public out of £185,000 after sending texts pretending to be Royal Mail and HMRC, and was sentenced to nearly two years in prison.

Reports made to 7726 also helped to convict Teige Gallagher, 21, who last year was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

His bulk text messages to strangers involved impersonating banks and the NHS.

How to help 

To forward a text, press down firmly on the message and select ‘forward’. This may be symbolised by an arrow.

Take care not to reply to the message, as this shows the scammer your number is in use.

I don’t know if my texts have made a difference — but pleasingly I haven’t received any new messages for two weeks.

So perhaps the fraudsters targeting my phone have grown weary, for now at least.

Steve Wilson, head of cyber security software firm NortonLifeLock in the UK, says fake texts often call for action — asking you to click on a link, download an attachment or ring a number.

But he warns: ‘Simply pressing on a link in a text could lead to a loss of personal data.

‘Exercise caution when receiving unexpected messages about unpaid taxes, money refunds and other updates that either create a sense of urgency to act or promise monetary gains.’

Meanwhile, if you receive a suspicious call purporting to be from your bank, dial 159.

More than 75,000 calls have been made to this number since it launched last September.

Currently, its primary purpose is to help protect customers by connecting them directly to their bank. But there are plans to develop the service to help track down fraudsters in future if the pilot is successful.

Most of the big banks have signed up — including Barclays, the Co-operative, Lloyds, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Santander, Starling and TSB.

For more information about how to protect yourself from fraud, visit takefive-stopfraud.org.uk.

Scam emails can also be forwarded to the National Cyber Security Centre via report@ phishing.gov.uk.

moneymail@dailymail.co.uk

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk