{"id":164,"date":"2016-02-08T13:19:29","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T13:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/?p=164"},"modified":"2016-02-08T13:25:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T13:25:30","slug":"phone-credit-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/phone-credit-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Phone Credit Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There has been an increase in the number of text messages that you will get these days from persons claiming that they<br \/>\naccidentally sent you credit and are asking you to send it back. You will get this from persons on both mobile networks. I don&#8217;t know if it makes much sense to report these individuals since our local services &#8211; law and mobile &#8211; either don&#8217;t care or don&#8217;t have the resources in place to deal with these types of fraudulent activities.<\/p>\n<p>This post is intended to help you identify what a scammer&#8217;s text will look like versus one that&#8217;s actually from your phone company.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/phone-credit-scam\/#SCAM_TEXTS\" >SCAM TEXTS<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/phone-credit-scam\/#DISSECTING_THE_TEXT\" >DISSECTING THE TEXT<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/phone-credit-scam\/#ACTUAL_SERVICE_PROVIDER_SMS\" >ACTUAL SERVICE PROVIDER SMS<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"SCAM_TEXTS\"><\/span>SCAM TEXTS<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074930.png\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-165 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074930.png\" alt=\"Screenshot_20160208-074930\" width=\"540\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074930.png 540w, https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074930-169x300.png 169w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074919.png\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074919.png\" alt=\"Screenshot_20160208-074919\" width=\"540\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074919.png 540w, https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074919-169x300.png 169w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"DISSECTING_THE_TEXT\"><\/span>DISSECTING THE TEXT<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>These scam texts can basically be broken down like so:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074930.gif\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-169 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-074930.gif\" alt=\"Screenshot_20160208-074930\" width=\"540\" height=\"960\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>With these texts above you will notice that they&#8217;ve typed out the full message that you might receive from the provider. Below you will see what an actual text from your service provider will look like.<\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"ACTUAL_SERVICE_PROVIDER_SMS\"><\/span>ACTUAL SERVICE PROVIDER SMS<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-080037.png\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-168 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-080037.png\" alt=\"Screenshot_20160208-080037\" width=\"540\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-080037.png 540w, https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screenshot_20160208-080037-169x300.png 169w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While it is possible that you may have actually received some credit on your phone the best way to know is by checking. Simply dial *120# from your handset to see whether or not you have additional credit. This only works if you knew how much credit you originally had. Still &#8211; the SMS you get (text message) should show your current balance. Just make sure it matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There has been an increase in the number of text messages that you will get these days from persons claiming that they accidentally sent you credit and are asking you to send it back. You will get this from persons on both mobile networks. I don&#8217;t know if it makes much sense to report these &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/2016\/02\/phone-credit-scam\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Phone Credit Scam<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_eb_attr":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-info"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4XHmQ-2E","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions\/172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosthomas.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}