Odell Resident Recognizes Bitcoin Message As ‘Smishing’ Scam

An Odell resident reported an attempted “Smishing” scam to the Gage County Sheriff’s Office. According to the sheriff’s office, “He received via a text message on his phone on Tuesday, 3-11-2025. The text message was purportedly from Paypal, however the resident does not even have an account with that company. As part of the scam, the text stated the victim was going to be billed $500.00 for purchase of BitCoin and further stated that if he had not authorized the purchase, he was directed to call 808-743-5375.” “Phishing” a crime that tricks people into sharing personal information, such as passwords, credit card numbers and social security number. That information can then used to steal money or identity. Normally associated with email scams, a variation of this scam involves using texts instead of emails, dubbed “smishing,” a mashup of “SMS” (Short Message Service) and “phishing.”In this case, the victim immediately recognized this as a scam. He did not contact them and did not suffer any financial loss. In another recent example, Fairbury Public Schools posted on Facebook last Friday, “Please do not click on any links from emails or text messages from the email cthomas@fairburyjeffs.org or anything that says it is from Curt Thomas for a document to be signed. If it is asking for email credentials, it is a scam.”The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) issued a warning that “smishing” scams are on the rise. One especially prolific scam send texts to individuals claiming they owe money on unpaid toll road fee. The FBI reported receiving over 2,000 complaints so far this month.Another popular version of “smishing” is posing as a package delivery service. Such texts will include a link to a website and a message claiming a response is required before a package can be delivered. The United Tstaes Postal Services warns, “If you never signed up for a USPS tracking request for a specific package, then don’t click the link!” According to Palo Alto Networks, a cybersecurity firm, one threat actor has registered over 10,000 domains to impersonate toll services and package delivery services.Other variations on these scams are vishing scams, which happen over the phone, voice email, or VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls, and pharming scams, which is when malicious code is installed on your computer to redirect you to a fake website.

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