Ways to be safe from spam messages
With every new day, there grow new ways that hinder our security. With a plethora of terminologies, we know of, there is an increase in chances of them disrupting our lives. One such term is smishing, which is a term born out of SMS and phishing.
We often come across messages with tempting content, luring us into clicking on them. While most of us take the temptation as bait and know they are fraud, there are some who think this must be true. Hence, we are going to tell you how to recognise and stay safe from fraudulent, spam messages we tend to receive every other day.
How to detect spam messages and be safe?
Have an eye for spam messages
We receive messages of all sorts; some are from the ones we interact with daily, some are from businesses we know of, and some are clearly spam. The third category is something we need to be diligent about. Such messages will always offer things such as money so that you get enticed to open them. The texts will also require a call to action, meaning they might want you to click on a provided link. Additionally, spam messages are usually different than usual and even showcase poor grammar.
If you remember, of late messages were being received disguising as the ones from Paytm to conduct the KYC process. However, it only led to phishing and the lose of users’ money.
If you receive such messages, (which you might be already) just ignore them.
Do not reply to spam messages
Once you have spotted a spam message and find something fishy, know one thing that you never have to reply to them. Whenever a message expects you to click on a link or perform a task, you just have to make sure you don’t reply.
The messages might pose as a situation, say an emergency when someone you know needs money or something that might block your bank accounts or a fake delivery message if not clicked might lead to a cancellation of the order.
Whatever the case is, you have to follow the rule of ignoring and not responding
Verify with the actual source
Messages that pose as either your bank account or a known person tend to generate a sense of worry. Therefore, if you still feel that the messages you have received could be genuine, you should verify it with a legitimate source. In case it’s from a known person’s number, call that person up to know the truth, and if the message is from a delivery service, maybe Bluedart or FedEx, go to the official website and track your order to see for yourself.
Block spam SMS and calls
Now that you know how to detect spam messages, you should know that you can block those messages and spammy calls so that they don’t bother you. This can be enabled on both Android and iOS devices.
For iPhones, you have to head to Settings>Phone>>Call Blocking and Identification. For Android, the feature can be enabled either from the Settings or from a pop-up message within the Phone app.
Additionally, you can use third-party apps such as Truecaller to block fishy/spam calls and messages.
We hope the aforementioned ways prove helpful in detecting and remaining safe from spams.
