When someone you do not know texts you "hello," what this scammer is first trying to figure out is if your phone number is active.

“Hello?”

Nowadays, we regularly receive dozens of these texts from unknown numbers. But these innocuous greetings often have a sinister goal.

These unsolicited texts to mobile numbers are often part of “smishing” campaigns ― a term that combines “SMS” and “phishing.” Under these schemes, bad actors send people texts to tap into their curiosity or fear, in order to get victims to respond, click links, and disclose sensitive personal and banking information.

That first message of “hello” is often a test. When someone you do not know texts you “hello,” what this scammer is first trying to figure out is whether your phone number is active.

In this way, any response, from a bewildered ”???” to a “Sorry, wrong number,” is actually benefiting your potential scammer.

“If they’re using an algorithm to just generate hundreds of thousands of random phone numbers, they’re just trying to see which ones actually have a person tied to them,” explained Maril Vernon, an ethical hacker and certified information systems security professional. “They’re just trying to get you to respond so they know that that phone number is live first, and then they start the social engineering.“

In worst-case scenarios, that “hello” text will lead to conversations to gain your familiarity or trust. These texts are “successful because they make their victims feel so special. Like,........

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