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NBC Austin’s Sam Stark warns viewers of scams to be aware of going into the holiday shopping season. In an interview, Senior Vice President at ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ, George Cray, recommends that viewers look to short codes, as opposed to 10-digit phone numbers, as a sign of legitimacy. Companies must undergo a vetting process to obtain a short code, and in the event the company violates the terms, they must surrender the code. Cray also advises viewers that texts with a sense of urgency or a link are likely scams.

CBS Chattanooga’s Nick Hill reports on how fraudsters are taking advantage of the holiday shopping season through texting scams. ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Senior Vice President, George Cray, shares expert information on how to protect against these scammers. CBS explains the concept of smishing: text messages that are designed to install spyware or steal other personal data. Cray advises viewers to beware of text messages with links and a sense of urgency. Hill describes the common situations these hackers will try to present, including verifying gift cards, falsely claiming delivery delays, or claiming they need more information to complete a delivery.

CBS Chattanooga’s TECH BYTE reports on how fraudsters are taking advantage of the election season through texting scams. ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Senior Vice President, George Cray, shares expert information on how to protect against these scammers. Cray explains how Americans lost $86 million last election cycle from texting scams, and this year could be even worse. Money isn’t the only thing scammers are after, viewers are also warned to watch out for scammers spreading misinformation.

Steve Sbraccia of CBS Raleigh reports on how scammers are taking advantage of the election season to steal personal information. ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Senior Vice President, George Cray, shares expert information on how to protect against these scammers. Cray advises viewers to be wary of texts with a sense of urgency and sent from 10-digit numbers. Real candidates and campaigns can undergo a vetting process to obtain a 5/6-digit number (a short code), making these numbers more trustworthy for voters.

Terrence Lee of FOX Chicago reports on the increasing amount of text scams sent out as election season gets underway. In a live interview, ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Senior Vice President, George Cray, provides expert tips on identifying scam text messages sent from fraudsters posing as candidates or campaigns. Cray warns viewers to watch out for requests for personal data, embedded links and messages with a sense of urgency. Cray also explains that text messages from 5/6-digit numbers (short codes) are more reputable due to the vetting process candidates/campaigns undergo to obtain the code.

Kim Baldonado of NBC 4 LA reports on political text messaging fraud. She warns that scammers pose as political candidates or campaigns and use this ruse to get money and personal information from voters. In an interview, ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s Senior Vice President, George Cray, explains how consumers can protect themselves – listing red flags to watch out for. For example, Cray warns that text messages sent from an unknown 10-digit number asking for personal information are likely from fraudsters.

In this post, CFCA encourages their members to identify themselves as a trusted communications superhero. Learn how the Fraud Fighters and Identification Verifiers can protect consumers’ money and identity with the help of ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s tools TruNumber Protect, PortData Validate, TruReach Certify and TruReach Intel.