Got a weird text message? 'Smishing' scams likely rising because of AI, experts warn

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jul 11, 2025 11:41 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 11

If it seems similar your telephone has been blowing up with much spam substance messages recently, you're astir apt right.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says alleged "smishing" attempts look to beryllium connected the rise, acknowledgment successful portion to caller technologies that let for co-ordinated bulk attacks.

Smishing is "more than apt increasing" with assistance from artificial quality tools that tin trade convincing messages oregon scour information from information breaches to uncover caller targets, according to the centre's spokesperson, Jeff Horncastle.  

Though the centre has really received less fraud reports successful the archetypal six months of 2025, Horncastle says that tin beryllium misleading due to the fact that truthful fewer radical really alert the centre to incidents.

The informing comes days aft the Competition Bureau sent an alert astir the maneuver because, it says, galore radical are seeing much suspicious substance messages.

Smishing is simply a benignant of portmanteau of SMS and phishing, successful which a substance message is utilized to effort to get the people to click connected a nexus and supply idiosyncratic information.

The ruse comes successful galore forms but often involves a connection that purports to travel from a existent enactment oregon concern urging contiguous enactment to code an alleged problem.

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It could beryllium astir an undeliverable package, a suspended slope relationship oregon quality of a taxation refund.

Horncastle says it differs from much progressive scams specified arsenic a substance invitation to telephone a expected occupation recruiter, who past tries to extract idiosyncratic oregon fiscal accusation by phone.

Nevertheless, helium says a substance scam mightiness beryllium rather blase since today's fraudsters tin usage artificial quality to scan information leaks for idiosyncratic details that bolster the hoax, oregon usage AI penning tools to assistance constitute convincing substance messages.

"In the past, portion of our messaging was always: ticker for spelling mistakes. It's not ever the lawsuit now," helium said.

"Now, this connection could beryllium coming from different state wherever English whitethorn not beryllium the archetypal connection but due to the fact that the exertion is available, determination whitethorn not beryllium spelling mistakes similar determination were a mates of years ago."

The Competition Bureau warns against clicking connected suspicious links. It besides suggests radical should guardant suspicious texts to 7726 (SPAM), truthful that the cellular supplier tin analyse further.

The bureau besides encourages radical to delete smishing messages, artifact the fig and ignore texts adjacent if they inquire to reply with "STOP" oregon "NO."

Horncastle says the centre received 886 reports of smishing successful the archetypal six months of 2025, up to June 30. That's trending downward from 2,546 reports successful 2024, which was a driblet from 3,874 successful 2023. That too, was a driblet successful reports from 7,380 successful 2022.

But those numbers don't rather archer the story, helium says.

"We get a precise tiny percent of what's really retired there. And specifically erstwhile we're looking astatine phishing oregon smishing, the reporting complaint is precise low. So mostly we accidental that we estimation that lone 5 to 10 per cent of victims study fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre."

Horncastle says it's hard to accidental for definite however caller exertion is being used, but helium notes AI is simply a predominant instrumentality for each sorts of nefarious schemes specified arsenic manipulated photos, video and audio.

"It's much than apt expanding owed to antithetic types of exertion that's disposable for fraudsters," Horncastle says of smishing attempts.

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"So we would sermon AI a batch wherever fraudsters present person that instrumentality disposable to them. It's conscionable reality, right? Where they tin trade phishing messages and nonstop them retired successful bulk done automation done these highly blase platforms that are available."

The Competition Bureau's deceptive selling practices directorate says an informed nationalist is the champion extortion against smishing.

"The bureau is perpetually assessing the marketplace and done our quality capabilities is capable to cognize erstwhile scams are connected the emergence and having an contiguous interaction connected society," said lawman commissioner Josephine Palumbo.

"That's wherever these alerts travel successful really, truly handy."

She adds that it's hard to way down fraudsters who sometimes usage prepaid SIM cards to shield their individuality erstwhile targeting victims.

"Since SIM cards deficiency recognition verification, enforcement agencies similar the Competition Bureau person a hard clip successful really tracking these perpetrators down," Palumbo said.

Fraudsters tin besides spoof telephone numbers, making it look similar a substance has originated with a morganatic bureau specified arsenic the Canada Revenue Agency, Horncastle adds.

"They mightiness take a fig that they privation to amusement up randomly oregon if they're claiming to beryllium a fiscal institution, they whitethorn marque that fiscal institutions' fig amusement up connected the telephone display," helium said.

"We've seen [that] with the CRA and adjacent the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, wherever fraudsters person made our telephone numbers amusement up connected victims' telephone display."