Fraud and theft of information are becoming more common every day in Puerto Rico and we want to keep you up to date on the most modern techniques so that YOU DO NOT FALL. There are several popular techniques known as “Social Engineering”, which use different cyber ways to trick users into obtaining their confidential data.

Some of these techniques are:

Phishing: they send you a link on a web page or by email, which when you click on it, steals your data.

Vishing: in this case someone calls you pretending to be an employee of a company where through a conversation they ask for your personal information.

Smishing: A form of phishing, but they try to get your information through text messages. And that's what we want to talk about today.

Smishing attacks use the SMS service, better known as text messages. This form of attack has become increasingly popular because people trust a message that arrives through an app on their phone more than a message sent by email.

The truth is, it's easier for attackers to find your phone number than your email. A telephone number only has 10 digits, all numeric. The email may include letters, numbers, and symbols such as !, #, or $. The possibilities are many more, this takes away the attacker's time and makes his process difficult. Putting together 10 numbers and sending the same message to thousands of numbers at the same time becomes extremely efficient for the hacker.

• Never trust unknown numbers or call them back.
• If you receive a text message from a stranger, do not reply or click on links in it.
• We will never ask you for your information by text message, if they ask you, it's not us, block the number.
• If it's a message from a specific company and you feel unsure, look up their number and call them directly.

We want to protect you, your information and your money. Be on the lookout for strange messages, do not click on unknown links and always stay alert, as fraud is everywhere.