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Telecom. IT: Number of smishing attacks in Romania more than six times higher in 2023
The number of smishing attacks in Romania increased more than six times in 2023 compared to the previous year, according to an internal analysis by sendSMS.
According to a press release from ING Bank Romania, in the first months of this year, in 75% of smishing cases, identity theft was attempted by using a seemingly legitimate sender's name to mislead users that the messages were sent by different companies. Globally, 39% of consumers faced at least one SMS scam attempt in 2023, according to a study conducted by the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), a telecoms industry trade association.
According to the cited source, smishing fraud targets the banking domain, the courier industry and telecom services. Smishing attacks are similar to phishing, but use SMS (Short Message Service) or text messages to trick potential victims. In most cases, users are asked to click on a link and end up on a fake website designed specifically to steal confidential details (such as card details or banking application login details). In other cases, users are asked to install malware on their mobile devices.
"To prevent and block fraud attempts, in addition to internal actions and Home'Bank functions, we are constantly collaborating with the authorities and various providers, such as the company sendSMS. Most frequently, customers are manipulated into voluntarily giving their card or user details, password and OTP (one time password) codes after receiving alarming messages or messages promising them impressive winnings. sendSMS filters smishing attacks on a daily basis and alerts ING to block fraudulent messages before they are sent on behalf of the bank. We welcome this collaboration, which further helps us to be proactive and protect our customers' data. We continue to innovate to prevent fraud and this year we launched our geolocation solution, which can block transactions initiated from other geographical areas. The option can be activated very simply, from Home'Bank, Security menu and login," said Alin Becheanu, head of Fraud Monitoring and Prevention, ING Bank Romania.
According to sendSMS analyses over the last three years, most smishing frauds in Romania target the banking sector (56%), the courier industry (25%) and telecommunication services (15%).
"sendSMS has developed a powerful anti-smishing system for automatically filtering malicious content and blocking it before it reaches the phone operators' networks. In addition, as an extra security measure, certain operations are performed manually by cyber security experts. Last year, we identified over 2600 smishing attacks, of which we blocked 94%. In the first three months of this year, 100% of smishing attempts were blocked," said Liviu Baltoi, Cybersecurity Consultant and Founder, sendSMS.