Scams can come in on your smartphone as easily as they come in on your computer.  A recent scam involves a phony text message purporting to be from Target telling you that you  have just won a $1,000 Target gift card.  The text message provides a link to a phony Target website where you enter personal information including your Social Security number in order to register for the gift card prize.  The website you are led to looks legitimate, but it is not and the information that you enter is used to make you a victim of identity theft.  There is no $1,000 Target gift card for you.  Instead, you merely become a victim of identity theft.

TIPS

This kind of phony text messaging is called smishing.  As with just about every other scam.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.  Target does not use text message giveaways of gift cards.   If you have the slightest thought that the message may be legitimate, contact Target or whomever purports to be texting you at a telephone number that you know is accurate to confirm whether or not it is a scam.  And trust me.  You will find it is a scam.