Kaitlyn Orred
A fake text message is a scam text (also called smishing) that impersonates a bank, delivery service, government agency, or brand to trick the recipient into clicking a malicious link or sharing personal data. Seven signals reliably flag one: the message is irrelevant to you, demands immediate action, contains spelling or grammar errors, states inaccurate facts, comes from an unidentified number, includes a suspicious link, or misuses branding. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans reported losing $470 million to text message scams in 2024, five times the amount reported in 2020, making text the fastest-growing fraud vector in the U.S.
Table of Contents
How do Text Scams Target People?
How to Identify a Fake Text Message: 7 Signs
Fake text message red flags checklist
How to identify fake text messages on iPhone
How to identify fake text messages on Android
You've Identified a Text Message Scam - Now What?
How to Respond in Case of Doubt
How do I Make Sure I Send Safe Messages?
How Do Text Scams Target People?
Fake text messages are designed to fulfill one objective: To trick you into providing personal or account information. The information could be your Social Security Number, bank information, or email password, depending on the type of phony text. Once cybercrooks get hold of the information, they can access your accounts.
Fake text messages tend to revolve around the same strategies:
- They offer incredible financial support or random prizes.
- They warn about money-related problems, ranging from suspicious deliveries to unpaid invoices.
- They inform you about someone in a crisis - usually a family member.
- They often include a suspicious link.
If you receive an unexpected text message requiring personal details while promising or asking for money, this should immediately raise a red flag.
How to Identify a Fake Text Message: 7 Signs
Text scamming activates a sense of panic in the recipient, so people act before thinking. Before responding, look out for these seven signs.
1. The message isn't relevant to you
First, the message comes as an unexpected notification, not prompted by any interaction with a business or an individual. Popular text scams refer to a delivery problem with a parcel, an unpaid invoice, or a contest prize.
You can disregard the message when you ask yourself a few simple questions: Did I order something I’m waiting to be delivered? Did I participate in a competition? If the answer is no, it's most likely a fake text.
“Your order has arrived at our shipping facility, but we need you to confirm your information before we deliver your package.”
2. The message requires you to take immediate action
Text scams encourage you to act now. They request immediate action for one simple reason: You are less likely to consider your options if you feel pressured to react. No business or government agency would demand immediate action.
“Hi Taylor, this is your boss. I need something from you right now. Please text back as soon as you receive this, or else your job is in jeopardy.”
3. The message contains grammatical and spelling errors
Fake text messages often include awkward sentence structures. While this isn't always the case, it is a consistent signal you can quickly check.
Scam texts often include:
- Unusual spacing between characters
- Unfinished sentences
- Poor grammar
- Spelling mistakes
“Good news: Your a winner! Congradulations.! To claim you’re prize respond with YES.”
4. The message contains inaccurate statements
Fraudulent messages include statements you can easily verify.
If you receive a message from a contact in crisis who needs you to send money, you can easily verify the situation by calling the person or a mutual friend.
You can verify if there was suspicious activity in your bank account by logging into your online banking account from a secure source.
If a recognizable firm gets in touch with you, reach out to verify via their website. The most commonly masqueraded firms by fraudsters (Amazon, Costco, FedEx, and the IRS) do not initiate unsolicited contact by text to ask for sensitive information.
“Hi Sarah, this is Lea. My car broke down and I left my credit card at home. Can you Venmo me $200? I’m stranded!”
5. The number is unidentified
When a legitimate business sends a text message, its number is identified and recognized. Similarly, when a contact gets in touch, your phone should recognize their number, too. Text scamming typically uses 11-digit unidentified mobile numbers.
6. The text contains suspicious links
While some companies can send you a shortened link per text message, the URL shows the shortening service used, such as TinyURL or Bit.ly.
On the other hand, a suspicious link usually will NOT display any recognizable signs of using a URL shortening service despite showing a similar string of characters.
NEVER click on a suspicious link you receive through text. Clicking on the link may download malware to your device.
“To confirm your enrollment, click here: bil.ty/scam123”
7. The message uses incorrect branding
Scam text messages will sometimes mimic the names of legitimate companies in the message and URL. The link is slightly different from the one of the companies it pretends to come from:
- Misspelled domain names such as Ammazon.com instead of Amazon.com
- Added signs such as “.” or digits in the URL www1.royalbank.com rather than www.royalbank.com
- Unnatural subdomain
“This is a Wells Fargo Bank Alert. Did you just charge $2,986.76 to your account? Let us know if not by clicking here: www.wells1fargo.com”
Fake text message red flags checklist
Run every suspicious text through this checklist. If two or more signals fire, treat the message as a scam.
- The message isn't relevant to you. A "package delivery update" for a package you didn't order, or an "account alert" from a bank you don't use.
- The message demands immediate action. Language like "verify within 24 hours" or "your account will be closed" is engineered to bypass careful thinking.
- The message contains grammar or spelling errors. Legitimate brands proofread. Scammers often work in bulk across languages.
- The message states inaccurate facts. Wrong account balance, wrong last-four digits, wrong shipping address, wrong name.
- The sender number is unidentified. Emails-to-text (an address ending in @ instead of a phone number) and long unfamiliar numbers are common scam origins.
- The message contains a suspicious link. Shortened URLs, misspelled domain names (amaz0n.com, netfIix.com), or links that don't match the brand's known domain.
- The message uses incorrect branding. Wrong logo, off-brand colors, generic greetings like "Dear Customer," or a sender name that doesn't match the company being impersonated.
Legitimate senders design their messages to avoid every signal on this list. That's not an accident, it's how compliant SMS is supposed to work. Text-Em-All refuses to host the campaign categories these scams originate from, which is why messages sent through our platform don't trip these signals in the first place.
Common SMS Scams
While you may feel confident detecting a text scam, looking over scam text message examples is always helpful to ensure you know what to look for.
The Bank of America Text Scam
"Dear customer, Bank of America is closing your bank account. Please confirm your PIN at notbankofamerica.com/SCAM to keep your account activated."
This text scam will lure you into clicking the suspicious link by threatening to close your account. This message's tone is often urgent, and the link will usually ask for your personal banking information and direct deposit information.
The FedEx Text Scam
"Hello Angela, your FEDEX package with tracking code AB-9456-JK65 is waiting for you to set delivery preferences: iscam.info/lmnopq."
With the number of packages people receive weekly, this unwanted text message is dangerous and can be easy to fall for.
Free Money Text Scam
"You've won a prize! Go to tarrget.ly/scamprize to claim your $500 Target gift card."
This scam message includes many common warning signs discussed earlier in this article. The message offers an incentive, free money, misspells the company's name, and contains a suspicious link.
How to identify a fake text message on iPhone
On iPhone, a fake text message often lands in a separate "Unknown Senders" tab in the Messages app when the sender is not in the recipient's contacts, and iOS 17 and later flag suspected scams with a "Junk" label above the message preview. Three iPhone-specific checks help: open the sender's contact card and look for a legitimate business identity (real brands registered through Apple Business Chat show a verified logo), tap and hold any link to preview the destination URL before opening it, and check whether the message came from an email address rather than a phone number, which is a strong scam indicator on iOS. Apple's own guidance is to never tap links in unexpected messages and to report the sender through the "Report Junk" option that appears below messages from unknown numbers.
If the message claims to be from Apple itself, treat it as a scam by default. Apple does not send unsolicited texts asking users to verify their Apple ID, reset a password, or confirm a purchase through a link. This is the smishing pattern the FTC has flagged most often in consumer complaints, and it applies equally to look-alike texts claiming to be from Amazon, PayPal, or the U.S. Postal Service. Learn more about the mechanics at what is smishing.
How to identify a fake text message on Android
On Android, Google Messages automatically flags suspected scam texts with a red warning banner reading "Suspected spam" or "Suspected scam" when spam protection is enabled, and moves the message to a separate Spam and Blocked folder. To verify, open the message, tap the three-dot menu, and look for sender details. Legitimate businesses in the U.S. now send from 10-digit long codes registered under 10DLC, toll-free numbers verified through carrier vetting, or short codes leased through carriers. A message from an email-to-SMS gateway, a random international number, or a number that spoofs a well-known short code (like an extra digit added to 22000) is almost always a scam.
Android users on Samsung, Motorola, and other manufacturers may use a different default messaging app. In those cases, install Google Messages or check the manufacturer's own spam-filtering settings. The core red flags from the checklist above apply regardless of device or app.
You've Identified a Text Message Scam - Now What?
These seven signs can help protect your personal information and avoid text message scams. If you suspect you have received a phishing text, you can report the text to the appropriate authorities in different ways.
Mark the message as a scam
First of all, you can mark the message as a scam in your iPhone Messages app or your Android phone, which will block messages you receive in the future from the same number.
Forward the scam text message to 7726
Alternatively, you can also forward the message to 7726 (SPAM). Remember not to interact with the text by replying STOP or clicking on the link.
Report the message to the Federal Trade Commission
You can also report scam text messages to the FTC via their website to prevent future fraud and unwanted text messages from that specific sender.
How to respond in case of doubt
Unfortunately, some consumers who recognize scam text messages still lose money to cybercrooks. The FTC warns consumers about how to deal with fake text messages.
If you suspect you received a fake text message, you must protect your personal information. You should never interact with the message if you believe it could be a text message scam.
Examples of interacting with the text message include:
- Clicking on the link
- Replying with STOP
- Responding to the text message
If the message seems to come from a legitimate company and you are unsure whether it is real, you may want to contact their customer service to find out if the text is authentic.
For instance, if you have received a text message from your financial institution claiming suspicious activities on your account, contact the bank using the phone number or chat function on the website. This will ensure you can talk to a legitimate contact.
Frequently asked questions
Send safe messages through Text-Em-All
Every red flag on this page is something a legitimate sender should design against. That's why Text-Em-All builds TCPA compliance, 10DLC registration, opt-in handling, and STOP processing into the send path, not as an add-on, but as the default. Our support team is staffed by Text-Em-All employee-owners, and we actively refuse to host the lead-gen list rentals and harvested-list campaigns that produce most of the scam texts on this page. That's the same discipline 16,000+ organizations use to reach their members, staff, and customers without ever landing in the "fake text" bucket. See how the same compliance-first approach powers SMS marketing campaigns that actually get delivered.
Start free with Text-Em-All and send your first compliant SMS campaign in under 5 minutes: see pricing and start a free account.
Last updated: 2026-07-18