A highly explosive security issue at the moment is text messages circulating with alleged parcel notifications including links to - supposed - shipment tracking.
What applies to e-mailsThis applies even more so to text and messenger messages or missed calls from dubious numbers (ping calls): Exercise extreme caution when calling up links, do not reply, do not call back.
In the case of the current wave of SMS fishing (recently also referred to as "smishing" for short), there are indications that, in individual cases, calling up the link contained in the text message has led to a large number of other text messages being sent from the affected telephone to other numbers, which can also result in costs (For example, the LKA Lower Saxony reports).
Other variants of the links lead to classic fishing pages in a fake design, for example of renowned parcel services, on which personal data is then to be entered with the purpose of collecting this data or also the conclusion of expensive subscriptions in the sense of a subscription trap.
The IT security company ESET also reportsthat some of the links in such messages lead to well-prepared fake pages that ask users to install an alleged tracking app that conceals the Android banking Trojan FluBot.
So: No calling up links in SMS messages