I have been receiving my fair share of dodgy text messages over the last few weeks. Most of them are poorly written and invite me to retrieve a voicemail message. I quickly recognise them as a threat and delete them from my phone.
There has been an increase in scams and digital threats in Australia over the past two years. Australians lost over $851 million to scams in 2020, a record amount, as scammers took advantage of the pandemic to con unsuspecting people.
The latest threat is a new scam text message called Flubot, which attempts to put malware onto your phone. Though the Flubot is designed to target Android phones, iPhone users like me are receiving the messages. It tricks the user into clicking on the link in the message, and then it installs malware onto the phone.
Flubot first hit Europe earlier this year before Australians began being spammed with it this month. Between the 4th and 17th of August, Scamwatch received 413 reports per day for all SMS-related scams, including Flubot, compared to 122 between 1st July and 3rd August.
Fortunately, iPhones are currently immune to the Flubot. But you can't take any chances. As we know, a virus can change very quickly and become infectious to a new cohort.
There has been an increase in scams and digital threats in Australia over the past two years. Australians lost over $851 million to scams in 2020, a record amount, as scammers took advantage of the pandemic to con unsuspecting people.
The latest threat is a new scam text message called Flubot, which attempts to put malware onto your phone. Though the Flubot is designed to target Android phones, iPhone users like me are receiving the messages. It tricks the user into clicking on the link in the message, and then it installs malware onto the phone.
Flubot first hit Europe earlier this year before Australians began being spammed with it this month. Between the 4th and 17th of August, Scamwatch received 413 reports per day for all SMS-related scams, including Flubot, compared to 122 between 1st July and 3rd August.
Fortunately, iPhones are currently immune to the Flubot. But you can't take any chances. As we know, a virus can change very quickly and become infectious to a new cohort.