Smishing is phishing delivered by text message — as in the USPS and UPS package-notice kit and the nationwide E-ZPass and SunPass toll-road wave — usually spoofing a delivery notice, toll bill, or bank alert to get a victim to click a link and enter payment or login details on a fake page. The cases here include mass phishing-as-a-service kits distributed to thousands of targets at once, not just one-off scam texts.
Scheme participants posed as veteran finance professionals inside private WhatsApp investment groups to lure at least 18 U.S. retail investors into a fake.
SMCensys researchers used passive DNS to unravel a live USPS/UPS "package awaiting action" smishing operation.
SMAn unidentified impersonator used an AI-cloned voice and a hacked personal-contacts list to pose as White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
SMA mass SMS phishing campaign impersonating U.S. toll agencies spoofed 'unpaid toll' notices, drawing 2,000+ FBI complaints within weeks.
SMA caller posing as a Standard Bank representative persuaded 18-year-old Reabetswe Modisane to move her R438.
SMA Singaporean businessman transferred at least S$4.9 million after WhatsApp and email lures citing the Strait of Hormuz crisis drew him into a deepfake.
SMA Pune CFO wired Rs 56 lakh after a Microsoft Teams message impersonating her Italian CEO demanded an urgent transfer.
SMA smishing text plus a follow-up phone call using a deepfaked colleague's voice tricked a Retool employee into surrendering MFA codes.
SMFraudsters hijacked a WhatsApp account via a malicious ZIP file, swapped in their own number while keeping the real display photo of former Rajya Sabha MP.
SMA single compromised Microsoft employee account gave LAPSUS$ (DEV-0537) "limited access" to an Azure DevOps repository.
SMA trusted, decades-respected Kansas community bank CEO was groomed over WhatsApp into a crypto "pig butchering" scam.
SMFTC's December 2024 Data Spotlight quantified an explosion in "task scams," gamified job-offer frauds launched via unsolicited text/WhatsApp messages.
SMA US Attorney's Office (EDVA) court order seized seven domains spoofing the Singapore International Monetary Exchange that pig-butchering scammers used.
SMDOJ/IRS-CI unsealed four indictments charging 28 members of a Chinese organized-crime money-laundering ring tied to India-based "mistaken refund".
SMA Taiwan-linked money courier was caught in an Austin bank sting while collecting part of the $1.4 million a victim lost to a pig-butchering scam.
The USPS and UPS "package awaiting action" smishing kit exposed via Censys DNS investigation, and the nationwide toll-road smishing wave spoofing E-ZPass, SunPass, the PA Turnpike, MassDOT, NTTA, and Peach Pass, both used a fake delivery or toll notice sent to thousands of numbers at once.
The SEC v. NanoBit WhatsApp pig-butchering scheme, the Heartland Tri-State Bank pig-butchering embezzlement by CEO Shan Hanes, the EDVA seizure of spoofed SIMEX and SGX domains, and the Austin DAIQ crypto scam all built a long-running relationship over text or messaging apps before asking for a crypto transfer.
The Naresh Gujral WhatsApp CEO-impersonation fraud, the Pune Italian engineering firm CFO Microsoft Teams boss-scam, and the Retool smishing and deepfake vishing breach all used a text or chat message impersonating a boss or executive to push an urgent request past normal checks.
The Susie Wiles AI voice impersonation using a hacked contact list, and the S$4.9 million Singapore deepfake Zoom call impersonating Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, both combined a compromised or spoofed contact list with AI-generated voice or video to make the message look like it came from someone the target already trusted.
Social Engineering Examples