Scammers suck and what is even worse is when you’ve been scammed.
We’ve all been there, clicked on a link we shouldn’t have, and thought something seemed legitimate.
But apparently, there is a specific time and day where us mere mortals are susceptible to being scammed.
According to Telstra, Fridays and Saturdays are the days you are most prone to getting swindled out of your cold hard cash.
But how did Telstra get this intel?
Looking at the scam SMS messages they blocked over 2022 and 2023, the telco found it blocked 11 per cent more scams on those two days than any other day on average.
Telstra said it blocked 20 per cent less of SMS scam messages on Sunday.
There is also a specific time when scams are most likely to happen too. If a message is sent between 1am and 4am, this is also a time where scammers can get through the cracks and catch people unawares.
Scammers are also using generative AI technology to sound more Aussie and more like a human being rather than a robot. This means we need to be more wary of messages from unknown numbers.
Annoyingly, scam messages are on the rise with the number jumping 18.5 per cent jump in 2023 compared to 2022. Texting is the most common way of trying to scam someone with over 109,000 reported SMS scams in 2023, up 37 per cent from 2022
If you have received a message you think is a scam, report it to your telco whether that be Telstra, Optus, Vodafone etc and forward the message so they can spot any trends.
Also a good idea to know about call spoofing and how to avoid it too, another scammy trick. Stay safe out there folks and if the text seems like spam or is too good to be true, it probably is.
Image: Fox