Berkshire Residents Being Targeted with Suspicious Gift Text Scam

It's that time again, scam time. It seems like each week we are warning you about another scam that is circulating throughout Berkshire County. Lately, we've been alerting you about scams every couple of days. It just goes to show how frequent scams are being sent out whether it be by text, phone, email, etc. Berkshire County residents are certainly seeing their fair share of scams popping up on their devices.

Another Scam That is Circulating the Berkshires is the Suspicious Gift Text Scam Which Claims to be from AT&T

Both my wife and my mother-in-law received this text from a sender claiming to represent AT&T.

As you can see, this looks pretty sketchy and thank goodness neither my wife nor my mother-in-law tapped the link. Who knows what information could have been taken from them. I'm glad they chose not to find out. This text scam is known as smishing which is fishing through text messages. As a matter of fact, there is a community forum on AT&T's website with many people discussing how they have received the same text. You can access that forum by going here.

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What Should Berkshire County Residents Do if They Recieve This Text?

According to AT&T, these are the actions you should take if you receive this text or any type of suspicious text.

Forward the suspicious text to us at 7726. Messages forwarded to 7726 are free. They don't count toward your text plan. If you can’t see the number, forward the entire message to abuse@att.net.

Report spam and fraud text to AT&T.

Send a suspicious text message to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at reportphishing@apwg.org, or report it to the FTC.

Go to IdentityTheft.gov to learn more about this kind of criminal activity and how to stop it.

You can learn more about this scam and other common text/smishing scams by going here.

Let Us Know As Well

In addition, if you are receiving any type of scams, let us know so we can share the information with other Berkshire County residents. Knowledge is power and we want to make sure that we are all well informed and know what to look for when receiving these suspicious texts along with other forms of potential scams.