Scammers' New Methods Involve Fake Cell Phone Towers

"Does anyone enjoy getting text messages from scanners on their phones? The answer, presumably, is "No," with the possible exception of a very specific variety of masochist. And with that in mind, wireless carriers have taken steps to make it harder for scammers to use their services, with the FCC issuing guidance to that effect in 2023. What happens when a scammer can't use wireless infrastructure? As an alarming new report reveals, they make their own."

"While the devices used to distribute scam texts can be portable enough to be carried in a backpack, they can also cause a lot of trouble or annoyance: Burgess cites a report that one such device sent messages to around 100,000 phones in the span of an hour. Combine that with the mobility that the blasters' relatively small size allows and you have the makings of a big problem."

Scammers increasingly use SMS blasters that emulate cellphone towers to send large volumes of scam texts. Wireless carriers and the FCC have implemented measures to limit abusive messaging, but scammers build and deploy their own infrastructure to evade those controls. The devices can be small and mobile, able to send tens or hundreds of thousands of messages in short periods. The technology spread from Southeast Asia to Europe, with arrests linked to mobile operators spoofing government messages. Disabling 2G connectivity can reduce exposure, but attackers tend to exploit any available vulnerability.

Read at InsideHook