A current security issue with high explosiveness are currently circulating SMS messages with alleged parcel notifications including links to - alleged - shipment tracking.
What applies to emailsThis applies even more to SMS and messenger messages or missed calls from dubious numbers (ping calls): Exercise extreme caution when calling links contained in the messages, 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 (reported, for example, by the LKA Lower Saxony).
Other variants of the links lead to classic fishing sites in the fake design of, for example, renowned parcel services, on which personal data is then to be entered with the purpose of collecting precisely 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 to install an alleged tracking app, behind which the Android banking Trojan FluBot hides.
So: No calling links in SMS messages
