The You “Won a Toyota Avanza” Text Scam

Posted on December 16th, 2009. Written by Rico.

Straight from The Music Blogger comes a report of a new text scam, which congratulates you for “winning” a Toyota Avanza.

Here’s the message:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!Your # WON TOYOTA AVANZA w/ 300thou via electronic last oct.5,2009. For details, please call now .JAKE.LUCAS. of Phil. com. Center on this #.

The text scam was sent from +639304900319. Where’s the scam here? Well, the sender is trying to attract calls from unsuspecting cell phone users eager to claim what seems to be a significant prize. Once calls come in though, the sender will most likely try their best to trick the user into revealing personal info, or agreeing to a personal meet-up where there’s a potential for robbery and the like.

How did I know this is a text scam? Aside from the “too good to be true” premise, all official contest conducted through cell phone networks come from 3- or 4-digit senders, not the normal number Mr. “Jake Lucas” used. More indicators of text scams available here.

Spread the word folks, and if you ever receive this spam, report it to the NTC ASAP.