Criminals are using ‘blasters’ to send thousands of scam texts to would-be victims at the same time.
One man has been jailed for using a portable phone mast to send scam texts to nearby phones.
The student from China used the tool at several locations in London earlier this year, sending an onslaught of messages to tens of thousands of victims.
Ruichen Xiong has now been jailed for over a year after using a “blaster” in his car boot to send the texts, according to The Guardian.
However, experts warn that there may be many more copycat criminals using the new technology.
The “SMS blaster” allows fraudsters to send texts without knowing specific phone numbers and it can also side-step the phone network’s anti-spam preventions.
In heavily populated areas, criminals can broadcast the “smishing” texts to a huge number of people, asking them to hand over their personal and financial details.
Links included in the texts mean that the sender can harvest information to take money from victims’ bank accounts.
Scammers can choose the words and content in the message, making it easy for them to disguise the text as coming from a legitimate organisation.
Xiong was eventually arrested by the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a police unit which investigates financial fraud.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Curtisat from the DCPU said: “Criminals are sophisticated and will continuously make attempts to bypass fraud prevention measures designed to protect consumers.”
“They’ll make every attempt to steal personal and financial information, so it’s important that customers are alert to potential threats of fraud, particularly text messages.”
Google has also issued Android users advice to disable 2G on their phones to help block the messages.
Iphone users can use a filter system in their settings to avoid messages from unknown senders.
Martin Richardson, of National Fraud Helpline, said: ‘Scammers are sending thousands of random texts on the basis that if they send enough someone will click the link.
‘Scam texts via blasters are an effective way of reaching huge numbers of people that fraudsters may not otherwise be able to reach.
‘Our advice is that unless you’re certain never click a link on a text or email.’
Lost money to a text scam? Contact the National Fraud Helpline. Call 0333 0033219 or fill out our Claim Form.