The regional Better Business Bureau issued a warning that text messages from unknown numbers with photos of a young woman are making the rounds nationwide and several local consumers have reported being targeted by this scam.
The text messages all begin in a similar manner — the sender claims to have met the recipient before and wishes to meet up. The texts contain photos, usually of a young blonde or redheaded woman.
When the recipient replies, the sender pretends to accidentally have texted the wrong number but continues to send messages.
BBB warns consumers that these supposed wrong number texts are coming from chat bots and it is best not to respond. By responding, the recipient inadvertently confirms their phone number is valid, which could lead to scammers selling their number to advertisers. Scammers also use chat bots to attempt to gain personal and/or financial information from victims.
BBB offers the following tips to avoid chat-bot scams:
• Ignore texts from strangers. Strangers on the internet can pretend to be anyone. Question motives behind both solicited and unsolicited messages. If you receive a text from someone you don’t know, don’t reply. It’s the safest route. If you engage with a scammer, even briefly, they will mark your number as active and you could receive even more shady texts in the future.
• Block numbers…
