Smishing is very similar, the method of delivery however is through your cell phone.  Spammers have started sending fraudulent cell phone text messages, trying to trick people into revealing personal information, financial account numbers, and passwords.  The spammer usually tries to threaten the receipient with account cancelation or charges on their account if they do not comply.

Do not be fooled.  Just like with email, if it doesn’t smell right, it probably is a scam.  You should not respond to the sender. Do not call any telephone numbers provided in the text message – also don’t click on any links.

Dear Client,

We’d like to provide you with an update on recent spam attacks.

Our message security vendor has advised us on high volumes of bogus CNN and MSNBC messages that contain links to download malware. Spammers have copied the contents of CNN and MSNBC alerts and substituted a link that prompts users to upgrade to a new version of a fake Adobe Flash player.

The security service has detected and blocked the vast majority of these attacks, and continues to release protections to stop the new mutations. Their capture rate is over 99%; however, the attack volumes are so large (in the hundreds of millions of messages) that a 1% passthrough rate means that a few messages may end up in your inbox.

For best security practices, if you see any CNN, MSNBC, or suspicious news alert messages:

• Do not deliver these messages from your Message Center or Quarantine Summary.
• Delete these messages from your inbox.
• Do not click on any links in the messages.

If you need to access CNN or MSNBC content, visit the website directly.

Please be assured that our security service considers virus and spam protection as their highest priority, and continues to be on the cutting edge against new spam attacks and tactics.