COVID text message scam targeting locals

WHEN Numurkah’s Maria Kempton received a text message at 10pm on Sunday warning her that a case of COVID had potentially been detected locally, she almost clicked on the link that promised to show her places that she should avoid in the interests of safety.

“It had an air of plausibility to it, so it did create a sense of concern in me,” she said.

“My initial reaction was to want to click on the link to find out more, but then I started to think a bit more rationally and I knew that would be a bad idea.”

The message Mrs Kempton received read:

We’ve detected a possible COVID-19 case near your area. Checkout the maps to find out the most dangerous places to avoid tomorrow: http//:www.covidsafe-sms.com/

“I looked on the Covid Live website and it didn’t show any cases in the local area, and then I  googled covidsafe-sms and the seventh result on the list was an article identifying it as a scam,” Mrs Kempton said.

Mrs Kempton said that, had she been away from home when she received the message, she may have fallen for it.

“The text message was quite cunningly constructed and executed, sending it at that time of night and directing you to the link to see where you shouldn’t go tomorrow,” she said.

“If we’d gone away for a few days, which we’re allowed to do now, and had plans to visit businesses and attractions, I might have been  more tempted to click on the link to see if any of those places had been affected.

“The wording was just vague enough to make you want to check the maps and get more information.”

Mrs Kempton said there were other factors that initially increased the sense that the message was from a genuine source.

“I’ve got the COVIDSAFE app on my phone, and the message came from an Australian mobile number, so it would have been easy to assume that it was related to that.”

Mrs Kempton, who has an iPhone, said that the fact that her husband, who also has the COVIDSAFE app but has an Android phone, didn’t receive the message, made her suspicious however.

“I thought, surely, if it was genuine and related to the app, he would have received the message as well.”

Mrs Kempton said that, having avoided falling for the scam, she wants to make sure other people know it’s out there.

“It’s such a simple thing to do, click a link, and they could easily hit the jackpot with a lot of people.”