Just had a close call with a fake payment link from a 'utility company'

Got a text last week saying my power bill was overdue, with a link to pay $189.50. It looked real, but the link went to a weird site asking for my debit card and online banking login. I called the actual utility company directly and they confirmed it was a scam. Has anyone else seen these payment text scams getting more common lately?

4 comments

4 Comments

roberts.anna2mo ago

Scammers are getting so lazy they can't even make a decent fake website. That link asking for your bank login is basically the digital version of a guy in a ski mask holding a cardboard sign. Good on you for calling the real company to check.

robert_scott572mo ago

Honestly though, how many people actually fall for those? Seems like low effort scams work because they only need a few bites.

spencer_owens581mo ago

Is it really that wild though? I mean yeah the lazy ones are obvious (like that ski mask comparison is perfect btw), but you'd be surprised how many people click without thinking. My aunt almost fell for one of those "your Netflix is suspended" emails last month, and she's not dumb, just busy and stressed. The scammers only need a tiny fraction of people to slip up, and with millions of emails going out, that fraction is still a lot of victims. So yeah, low effort works because it costs them almost nothing to try.

elliot_gibson272mo ago

Seriously though, it's just a numbers game. They send it to a million people, and if even a handful click, they win. I get what @roberts.anna is saying about the ski mask thing, but most people just delete it and move on. It's annoying, but calling it a crisis feels like overkill. The real pros are the ones who make the effort to look legit, those are the scary ones. These lazy ones are basically just spam.