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Chinese Gangs Made $1B from Text Scams Targeting Americans
- The Department of Homeland Security says Chinese criminal gangs made more than $1 billion from text scams sent to US phone numbers recently, using phony messages linked to sham government websites.
- SIM farms operate with at least 200 SIM boxes across 38 U.S. farms in cities like Houston and Los Angeles, while criminals sell Lighthouse SMS phishing kits on Telegram.
- Scam texts impersonate U.S. toll operators, postal services, and fines to steal card details, then prompt victims for one-time passwords to add cards to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet; gig workers in the U.S. buy resellable items shipped to China.
- Officials across states tracked roughly 330,000 toll scam messages last month, urging residents to ignore texts and file complaints with the FTC and FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
- A Pew Research study this year found 61% of mobile users in the U.S. get scam texts weekly, many victims are elderly, and the National Cybersecurity Alliance advises against responding or sharing payment details.
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16 Articles
16 Articles
Coverage Details
Total News Sources16
Leaning Left4Leaning Right0Center5Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 44%
C 56%
Factuality
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