Beware of “You have new voicemail” scam SMS texts

Scammers are attempting to lure victims to phishing websites by sending text messages falsely claiming they have a new voicemail which they can retrieve by clicking a link.

Crooks that send scam SMS text messages will use a variety of different social engineering tricks to lure a recipient into clicking a link. This includes “failed courier delivery” texts, “you’re due a tax rebate” texts and texts claiming the recipient has a new voicemail message.

Some examples of these scam texts are below.

You have 1 new Voicemail(s). Go to LINK

You have 1 new Voicemail(s). For details, please visit LINK

These links will lead to either spoof phishing websites or malware downloads.

Phishing

The link will lead to a spoof phishing website that will ask for your login details for the account you have with your phone provider. It’s likely these websites will also ask for other personal information from the visitor as well.

The spoof sites are operated by criminals, and this gives them access to the victim’s online account with their phone provider and also makes the victim vulnerable to identify theft.

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Malware

The links will lead to websites that ask you to download software in order to “listen to your new voicemail.” However this will be malware that can spy on your activity or steal sensitive information from your device.

The bottom line is this – you should never click a link on a message or download software to listen to voicemails. Different phone networks offer different methods and phone numbers for your voice inbox and we recommend ensuring you know what that is and how to do it, and only using it when accessing new voicemails.

If you’re in a country that supports it (including UK, USA) you can forward scam messages like these to your phone provider on 7726.