Mobile phone scams: how to identify and protect yourself from them

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Avoiding mobile phone scams is part of our digital lives now, especially as scammers are constantly coming up with new ways to trick people. However, some scams aren't always obvious, so it's important to stay on top of new scams and learn how to spot them. This is because it's sometimes not easy to recover your personal accounts when they've been compromised.

What are phone scams?
Mobile phones are one of our most valuable assets today and cybercriminals know this. We always have them with us and use them to access the most private information in our lives. We have linked banking details, emails and other sensitive data to our phones, making them a perfectly centralised target for identity theft and fraud.

Mobile phone scams aim to trick you into voluntarily infecting your device or handing over private information.

Common types of mobile phone scams include:

Mobile phone virus scams
SMS spoofing (Smishing)
Voicemail Scams (Vishing)
One-Ring Call Scams
What are mobile phone virus scams?
Mobile phone virus scams give fake alerts claiming that a virus has been discovered on your phone.

While browsing the web on your phone, you may have seen a page pop up with this type of alert. It will say that a scan of your phone has revealed a virus infection, and it will urge you to take immediate action.

The scam gets you to download an “antivirus” app that is Cell Phone Number Database actually malware or spyware. Once the malicious code is on your smartphone, the scammers can infect other devices or hijack yours. The easiest way to protect yourself from these types of attacks is to make sure you have cybersecurity on your phone, such as Antivirus for Android .

What is voicemail spoofing?
Voicemail phishing or “Vishing” involves mobile phone scam calls that prompt you to take some sort of action.

In short, this is the definition of “vishing”: Scammers will pretend to be a genuine person or organization to gain your trust. They may pose as an official company or government service and convince you to provide personal information or money.



These scams try to get you to take action during the phone call. They rely on urgency and hope that you will panic so that you give them what they want. For this reason, scammers will pressure you to pay or share information on the call, rather than asking you to take a follow-up action (once they hang up).

What is SMS spoofing?
SMS phishing, or “smishing,” involves a scammer tricking you into taking action via text message.

These messages may send malware-laced SMS links , and if you open the link, your device may be infected with malware or spyware. However, sometimes the criminal will trick you into taking other actions. These may include calling a pay-per-minute phone number, tricking you into subscribing, or coercing you into providing personal information.