What is smishing and how can you protect yourself from it?

• Smishing is a scam to use mobile phones as an attack platform.
• PTA raises awareness, saying it is "where scammers use SMS/text messages to trick users into opening malicious attachment or link".
• Enlightens users on how to respond when they get such messages from scammers.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), in an effort to ensure cyber security, has warned mobile phone users about "smishing", a scam to use a mobile phone as an attack platform.

To spread awareness about the scam, the PTA, in a recent tweet, said that "smishing is where scammers use SMS/text messages to trick a user into opening a malicious attachment or link".

The authority also enlightened users on how to respond when they get such messages from scammers.

Here is what to do if you witness a smishing attempt:

• Be suspicious of SMSs from unknown numbers claiming to be from a reputable organisation, such as a bank or TV channel.
• Do not respond to text messages that request personal information without first independently verifying that they [SMS] are from a genuine source.
• Do not click on any links embedded inside an SMS.
• Report such numbers to your service providers.