New text scam knows your city location in Mississauga and Brampton
Published March 5, 2022 at 4:13 pm
A new text scam that may include the name of the city you live in is currently circulating in Mississauga, Brampton and other Ontario cities.
A local resident says he received a text message offering an unspecified “gift” for “being an essential part of your community.”
The text in question addressed him by his name and referenced the fact that he lives in Mississauga (recipient’s name blacked out):
While more and more text scams are referring to residents by their actual name, it’s not as common yet for a scam to also include your city name as well.
As for where scammers may have gotten ahold of your personal information, it may be related to a massive Facebook leak in April 2021 in which 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers and personal data were posted on a hacking forum.
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That means if you’ve been getting similar text scams with your name or city included since around April of last year, the Facebook leak is the most likely culprit.
However, there’s a wide variety ways scammers can get their hands on your personal details, including data breaches, leaks, or having it sold by a less than scrupulous website/business that you willingly gave your information to.
As with all scam texts, residents are advised to delete the message and block the number, and avoid clicking the link as it may be used by scammers to get ahold of your personal and/or financial information.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which keeps track of major scams and fraud throughout the country, advises residents to never share personal information with unverified people or groups.
That includes information such as your name, address, birth date, social insurance number, and credit card or banking information.
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