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1 Message

Saturday, January 8th, 2022 7:16 PM

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Why is AT&T NOT blocking Obvious Phishing Text Messages?!?

EVERY day I receive at least one "SMSishing" (phishing via text) message that reads exactly the same:

"ATTFree Msg: December bill is paid.  Thanks, Here's a little gift for you:", followed by a dynamic URL link ([dot].info/). 

These are obviously malicious links and/or scams, so why does AT&T, who processes and routes every text that comes to my device, not conducting a very simple scan for the clear text phrase "ATTFree Msg", and blocking these?  These texts are clearly a reputational risk to AT&T due to the AT&T fraud, and a cyber risk to their customers.  I have blocked over 20 different phone numbers listed as the source of these texts, but those numbers are simply Caller ID spoofed anyway, so that's a losing battle.  I cannot block all unknown numbers, because legitimate two factor authentication mechanisms, including AT&T's own account access system, send one-time codes from generic (typically 6 character) caller IDs.

Note:  your FAQ states to "Forward the suspicious text to us at 7726.".  Users cannot easily forward a text message, and not without risk of inadvertently clicking the malicious link.  No, I'm not going to take screenshots, then create a new text message, send a picture, etc.

Hey AT&T Wireless:  this is BASIC wireless security, affecting not just us, but you.  Up your cybersecurity-it's 2022.  It's much easier for you to monitor and detect this malicious activity, than for your paying customers to bear this burden and responsibility, let alone that approach be at all effective.  The fact that every one of these is impersonating you, and you are the primary path of their attack vector is unbelievable.

New Member

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5 Messages

1 month ago

hey look the same issue 2 years ago. how tf is ATT so pathetic? why are we forced to pay these amounts for what is supposed to be a service we never truly receive? Now days my scam message comes in a group text so I am not allowed to block any of the numbers and on top of that. ATT allows the false incomplete number to come up as the USPS (United States Postal Service) a (Edited per community guidelines)ing federal component. If we are allowed to impersonate federal numbers there is a real issue in upper management since it seems yall code like it is the 90's. This is why Cingular should never have been allowed to be purchased by Southwestern Bell. Monopolies definitely exist since every phone company is regional. Regional monopolies are still monopolies. Monopolies only care about their own existence which is why ATT and every other major company has now just divided the areas up. literally depending on what part of hte US depends on which you can use regularly with no interruptions or dropped calls. How would I know? Tmobile (Edited per community guidelines) in the midwest, great on the west coast and only ok on east coast, Virizon only good in high populated areas. ATT is terrible on the west coast and is great in the mid west and spotty in the east. Man it seems they all focus in different areas to make certain they dont step on each others toes. Until purchasing Cingular, ATT was terrible in the midwest. I really hope these monopolies get taken down in my life time so I can laugh at yall as you hang your heads in shame.

(edited)

ACE - Expert

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24.9K Messages

1 month ago

@drehc  Get a better email service. 

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