Impersonation scams are rampant and tend to increase during the holiday shopping season. Beware of fake delivery service and online retailer impersonations.

Text message scams—known as smishing attacks—are particularly increasing. Know the indicators and educate your friends and family.

Smishing is a fake or spam text that can take many forms. The recent tactic is to pose as well-known companies alerting the recipient of a fake transaction. These texts can be tricky to identify, especially as hackers grow more sophisticated with their scams.

Here are a few key signs to keep in mind that can help you spot a spam text or smishing scam.

It might be a smishing scam if:

• The message is unexpected, has no relevance to you, and isn’t connected to an activity you’ve recently undertaken. 
• The message conveys a sense of urgency. It is urging you to act quickly to avoid some type of penalty, account closure, or missed delivery.
• The message is from an unfamiliar phone number. 
• The message contains misspellings, poor grammar, or awkward use of language. A text or email containing the word “kindly” or stating U.S. dollars as “USD” instead of using the $ sign is fraud.
• The message has a suspicious link. It may be shown as a “bit.ly” link (bit.ly/yourprize001) or contain the company’s name as a subdirectory rather than the primary URL (teruinetrt.info/firstfinancial/).

Bottom line: Never click on links in unexpected text messages.

Other tips to avoid smishing and online shopping scams:

• Never pay to release your shipment.
• Never pay to “upgrade” your Zelle account to a “commercial” account to purchase an item on public marketplaces.
• Only buy from verified online retailers. Be vigilant with links on social media or email to ensure the business is legitimate.

Reporting fraudulent text messages:

• Report fraudulent text messages to your phone carrier by clicking on Report Junk or forwarding to 7726 (SPAM).
• Report fraudulent text messages to the company, i.e. fraud@ups.com; fraud@ffin.com
• If you receive a fake text message posing as First Financial, please forward a copy of the text to fraud@ffin.com.

When in doubt, contact us anytime! We care about keeping our customers safe, sound, and secure.