(The Center Square) – After the federal government began dolling out trillions of dollars in coronavirus stimulus money, criminals saw the windfall as an opportunity ripe for theft. Since early last year, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office began issuing consumer alerts to warn Floridians about a range of scams.
The latest consumer alert issued Monday warns Floridians about fraudulent robotexts being used to trick consumers into sharing their personal or financial information. Robotexts are sent to users’ phones from unknown numbers that often contain malware or lead to malicious websites.
With Americans on track to receive 86 billion automated texts this year, according to Robokiller.com, robotexts have become more prevalent than robocalls, and Floridians are expected to receive nearly 5 billion this year, making Florida one of the most spam-texted states in the nation.
“These automated text messages are now more prevalent, and potentially more dangerous, than robocalls since malicious links can be clicked on directly in a text,” Moody said. “These links often contain malware that can be instantly downloaded to a phone. Any interaction with this type of text will show the scammer that the phone number is active, making the targeted user vulnerable to further messages. Consumers should be wary of opening or clicking links…