Text message scams are one way fraudsters are gaining access to people’s personal information, and Waterloo regional police are warning that they are getting more creative.
Officials posted an example on social media of a text reading “Why didn’t you reply to my message?” The seemingly harmless text “sparks curiosity” and gets people to respond, police said.
However, from there, the fraudster knows that there is a real person on the other end, and they attempt to build a relationship with the victim. It can lead to people giving out personal information or clicking on malicious links.
These scams are considered phishing attempts according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, also called “smishing.” Often, bad actors will impersonate a recognizable company or institution, but sometimes they will lure a victim in with minimal text or a website link.
Versions of phishing lures include current events, charity efforts or impersonating officials.
This warning comes on the heels of another fraud circulating in the region that police mentioned several weeks ago.
On Nov. 29, officers said they are aware of a scam advertising remote work. The scam will appear as a text from an unknown contact, with promises of “easy remote work” with high pay. These jobs do not exist, officials said.
Police say these are attempts by scammers to steal your personal information or money.
The anti-fraud centre received 886 reports of smishing in the first six months of 2025, up to June 30. That’s trending downwards from 2,546 reports in 2024, which was a drop from 3,874 in 2023. That too, was a drop in reports from 7,380 in 2022.
But those numbers don’t quite tell the story, communications outreach officer Jeff Horncastle told The Canadian Press.
“We get a very small percentage of what’s actually out there. And specifically when we’re looking at phishing or smishing, the reporting rate is very low. So generally we say that we estimate that only five to 10 per cent of victims report fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre,” he said.