Smishing scam targets several CMSD employees
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The Columbus Municipal School District was the latest organization to be targeted by online scammers.
Several employees received text messages that claimed to be from Superintendent Dr. Stanley Ellis.
The texts requested that recipients send gift cards or money.
They are part of what is known as a smishing scam.
It’s similar to a phishing scam, but instead of using email, cybercriminals use text messages to steal personal or financial information or get victims to send money outright.
What these smishers didn’t count on was the alert staffers at the school district.
“Well, one thing I am grateful for is that a lot of our staff here, they are pretty vigilant about checking to make sure that messages are authentic and making sure that they’re correct. And they’ll reach out if something doesn’t look correct. And, had they not been vigilant on spotting that, this could have gone terribly wrong,” said Danielle Williams McGee, CMSD Director of Management and Information Systems.
The experts said if you have questions about a message, reach out to the sender directly. And if you think it’s bogus, remember to delete, block, and report.
