Estafas por SMS y Llamadas Telefonicas (Smishing/Vishing)

Tacticas Comunes

• • Fake package delivery notifications from USPS, FedEx, UPS, or Amazon containing malicious links to tracking pages that steal personal and financial information
• • Fake toll road violation texts (E-ZPass, SunPass, TxTag) claiming an unpaid toll and threatening a fine, directing victims to a phishing payment page — this scam saw a 900% increase in early 2025
• • Bank fraud alert texts claiming suspicious activity on the victim's account, with a link to a fake banking portal or a phone number connecting to a scammer posing as the fraud department
• • AI voice cloning scams where criminals use a few seconds of audio from social media to clone a family member's voice, then call claiming to be in an emergency (kidnapping, car accident, jail) and begging for immediate wire transfer
• • Robocall scams using spoofed caller IDs displaying local area codes or even the victim's own phone number to increase the likelihood the call is answered
• • Fake two-factor authentication texts that appear to come from legitimate services, asking the victim to "verify" a code — in reality, the scammer is logging into the victim's account and needs the real 2FA code

Como Identificarla

• Legitimate companies rarely send text messages with links — if a delivery notification includes a link, go directly to the carrier's official website or app instead of clicking it
• Toll road agencies send physical bills by mail and do not demand payment via text with threatening language about immediate fines
• The text or call creates extreme urgency — "your account will be locked in 1 hour," "pay now or face legal action" — designed to prevent you from thinking clearly
• AI-cloned family emergency calls may sound convincing but the caller avoids answering specific personal questions that only the real person would know
• The phone number displayed on caller ID can be spoofed easily — a call appearing to come from your bank's real number does not guarantee it is actually your bank
• Texts arriving from email addresses or unusually long phone numbers (e.g., 10+ digits) are almost always scam messages sent through internet gateways

Como Protegerte

• Never click links in unexpected text messages — manually navigate to the company's official website or app to verify any claims about your account, deliveries, or toll violations
• Establish a family code word that can be used to verify identity during emergency phone calls, defeating AI voice cloning attacks
• If you receive a suspicious call claiming to be from your bank, hang up and call the number printed on the back of your debit or credit card
• Register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov) and use your phone's built-in spam call filtering or a reputable call-blocking app
• Never provide two-factor authentication codes to anyone who calls or texts you — legitimate services will never ask you to read these codes to another person
• If you receive an urgent call from a family member asking for money, hang up and call that person directly on their known phone number to verify before sending anything

Ejemplos Reales