Fighting Fraud
By Better Business Bureau® Serving Greater Cleveland
A new text message scam seems so innocent that it’s tempting to reply. But con artists are using phony “wrong number” texts to lure victims into conversation and falling for a scam.
In this scam, you receive a text from someone you don’t know asking about a date. If you reply to a text like this, even with a polite, “Sorry, wrong number,” the stranger responds anyway, seemingly ignoring your answer. Usually, you’ll receive a few compliments and some photos of “Amanda,” who appears to be a scantily clad blonde woman. However, as the word gets out about this scam, scammers will change the names, backstory and photos.
If you continue to engage with the stranger, who is really a chatbot, it tries to trick you into registering for dating or adult websites. Your new “friend” will encourage you to sign up for a specific website to see more explicit photos, which may involve offering up your credit card number. Considering the dubious nature of this scam, if you hand over your credit card information at any point, you could be putting yourself at risk for fraudulent charges and identity theft.
One consumer was recently targeted by this scam but was quickly able to spot the fraud. The victim received a text from someone allegedly looking for a person they had spoken with previously about dating. When the victim said the texter had the wrong number, the texter responded “oh no did I text the wrong man? I can b [sic] so stupid sometimes” and kept trying to engage with the victim. The victim told the texter they should “go for someone who gives them the right number,” at which point the texter asked if the victim would like to go on a date. The victim then recognized the interaction as a scam and blocked the caller.
BBB Serving Greater Cleveland offers these tips to help you avoid chatbot scams:
- Ignore texts from strangers. If you receive a text from someone you don’t know, simply don’t reply. It’s the safest route. If you engage with a scammer, even briefly, they will mark your number as active and you could receive even more shady texts in the future.
- Block numbers that appear to come from scammers. Unsolicited texts that look like they come from a chatbot or that ask you to click on suspicious links are probably not safe. Block these numbers to prevent scammers from contacting you through them again.
- Never give your personal information to strangers. Never share your credit card or banking information, your full name, home address or social security number with someone you never met in person.
Questions? Reach out to your BBB at 216.413.5232 or [email protected]. Have a scam to report? Report it to BBB.org/ScamTracker. For more news and tips visit BBB.org.
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