Aussies are reporting an influx of scam text messages attempting to spook users into thinking they’ve been exposed online.
The notorious Flubot scammers are out in force again, with thousands of Aussies complaining of an influx of scam texts.
The ‘Flubot’ scam first arrived in Australia in August 2021, characterised by a text from an Australian phone number that enticed users to click on a link that would then infect their device with malware.
Since the first report, thousands of Australians have had the malware texts sent to their phone. In the first eight weeks, 13,000 Australians made a formal complaint to the Scamwatch division of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
At first, phone users were tricked into clicking the scam link by promises of a missed voicemail text. Then this progressed to clicking on the URL provided to track a delivery parcel.
Scamwatch warned that the scammers’ strategy had changed again. Now Australians are being duped into thinking their photos have been shared online.
When they click the link, they are taken to a page saying their phone has been infected. The link claiming to remove the virus is indeed the real malware.
One person’s post on Reddit showing scam texts from five different numbers gathered thousands of reactions on Monday.
“Yep. I got one today that basically said ‘We failed to deliver your order, what are you going to do?’ Then the link. It’s bloody annoying when it happens in the middle of the…
