What Those ‘Hello’ Scam Texts Everyone Is Getting Are REALLY About

“Hello?”

Nowadays, we regularly receive dozens of these texts from unknown numbers. But these innocuous greetings often have a sinister goal.

These unsolicited texts to mobile numbers are often part of “smishing” campaigns ― a term that combines “SMS” and “phishing.” Under these schemes, bad actors send people texts to tap into their curiosity or fear, in order to get victims to respond, click links, and disclose sensitive personal and banking information.

That first message of “hello” is often a test. When someone you do not know texts you “hello,” what this scammer is first trying to figure out is whether your phone number is active.

In this way, any response, from a bewildered ”???” to a “Sorry, wrong number,” is actually benefiting your potential scammer.

“If they’re using an algorithm to just generate hundreds of thousands of random phone numbers, they’re just trying to see which ones actually have a person tied to them,” explained Maril Vernon, an ethical hacker and certified information systems security professional. “They’re just trying to get you to respond so they know that that phone number is live first, and then they start the social engineering.“

In worst-case scenarios, that “hello” text will lead to conversations to gain your familiarity or trust. These texts are “successful because they make their victims feel so special. Like, ‘This is just for you. I only reached out to you. Only you are in this opportunity,’” said Amy Nofziger, the director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network.

In some other examples, scammers impersonate government agencies, companies that you might have done business with, people you went to high school with, or a package delivery service, in order to get you to click links in messages. You may think you are paying a forgotten delivery fee, but in reality you have just been tricked into giving up your credit card information.

And if you do reply, expect more texts from random numbers in the future.

Even if you do stop texting back to one number, the potential scammer likely will “spin up another [phone number] because they already know you’re a live target, and they’re going to probably try again,” Vernon said. “Unfortunately, smishing texts are just a fact of everyday life.”

But just because these random “hello” texts are an unfortunate regular occurrence doesn’t mean you have to give them your time of day.

“Threat actors aren’t creative, they’re going to rely on the same old tradecraft if it keeps working, and it keeps working because people are not very vigilant,” Vernon said.

Here’s how to not get fooled:

Replying “I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong number” is not going to stop the texts from coming. The best response to any “hello” or greeting from a number you do not know is the silent treatment.

Do not feel bad about blocking this number without a response. “Hello” text scammers are betting upon your desire to not be perceived as rude or unkind, so that you will respond. Nofziger said it can be particularly hard for older adults to go against the social script of replying to someone’s friendly greeting.

“For an older adult to be considered rude or impolite ― that’s a very hard kind of social change for them,” Nofziger said. To combat this, Nofziger said she will tell people, “I’m giving you permission right now that it’s OK to not respond” to these unsolicited texts.

Use your phone’s built-in tools to remove scam texts out of sight.

On iMessages, a warning stating “The sender is not in your contact list” will appear at the bottom of any message from an unknown sender. Tap “Report Junk,” then tap “Delete and Report Junk” to remove the text.

If you get recurring messages from an unwanted number, you can also tap the number on your iOS device, select “Info,” then tap the option to “Block this Caller.“

On Android phones, reporting a conversation as spam will block the sender and move the text message to your “Spam & blocked” folder.

If you do reveal too much of your identity to a threat actor, Vernon said to immediately change your login credentials, your passwords, and block that number. Use reputable anti-virus software programs to make sure you have not accidentally downloaded malware by clicking a random text link.

And in general, treat a random text from someone you do not know with some suspicion. “Any text from someone who’s not in your contacts, just know, it’s probably the start of one of these scams,” Nofziger said.