Scam text messages are becoming more realistic, with a recent phishing attempt posing as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) targeting Bay Area residents.
Many cell phone users ABC7 News spoke with Wednesday morning were familiar with unsolicited and fake text messages.
"I get a couple a week," said Elliott Hughes of Livermore.
"Multiple times a day. They come in spurts," said Ross Pearlman, a visitor to San Francisco.
"Absolutely. I got a ton of them," said Jim Allen, a San Francisco resident.
The latest scam message appears to come from the SFMTA falsely claiming the recipient has an unpaid parking ticket and will be charged a $35 daily overdue fee unless payment is made immediately. The link in the text looks legitimate, even to tech-savvy users.
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"Sometimes you click on it, because maybe you do have an outstanding ticket," Allen said.
Upon investigation by ABC7 News, the link's IP address traced back to Russia, while the 514 area code traces to Montreal, Canada. The SFMTA issued a warning on its website, confirming the text is a scam and emphasizing that the agency never requests payments via text links.
Cybersecurity expert John Horst of Xanesti Technology Services advises recipients to avoid clicking on suspicious links and instead visit the official website directly.
"Don't go through the link. Go directly on your own," Horst said.
According to Horst, phishing scams are evolving from email to text messages, making them harder to detect.
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"It seems like it's something new when, in fact, it's really not. It's just a different medium to conduct this kind of attack," he said.
Horst recommends users consider installing anti-malware and anti-virus protections for their smartphones.
"The most important thing is for the public to understand that their phones are computers," he said. "The technology is identical."
By Tuesday afternoon, the fraudulent SFMTA text link had been disabled. However, experts warn that new cyber scams are constantly emerging, making vigilance essential.
"Maybe I'm just more cautious than ever before with anything that's coming through via text," Allen said. "Just be careful."
If you have paid through the fake website, it's recommended that you report it to your bank or credit card company.