COVID-19 SMS Spam Dashboard: See SMS Spam and Scam trends

SMS SPAM

Rise of SMS Spam attacks

In recent weeks our expert Threat Intelligence analysts at AdaptiveMobile Security have seen the rise of SMS spam attacks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. These SMS Spam attacks are using the fear around the COVID-19 worldwide emergency try to defraud vulnerable mobile phone subscribers. Given the scale of the COVID-19 outbreak, AdaptiveMobile Security wants to prevent spammers exploiting those fears for their own gain.

We are sharing our intelligence from the US on the volumes of COVID-19-related spam complaints we are seeing. We show the geographical breakdown of the incidences of the COVID-19-related SMS spam. Also, to help educate the public, we are sharing examples of the types of SMS spam in circulation.

% of COVID-19 related SMS Spam Complaints

Access the Complete Data

You can download the complete data set, which features daily updates in the percentage of COVID-19-related SMS Spam complaints that our threat intelligence experts are analysing in the United States. By downloading this data, you are agreeing to cite AdaptiveMobile Security as your reference source for any and all reproduction of the data.

All data CSV

% of COVID-19 related SMS Spam complaints per State (US)

Below shows the distribution of COVID-19 related SMS spam complaints, for each State (US). The heat map shows the geo-breakdown of amount of COVID-19 related SMS spam expressed as a % of total SMS Spam complaints we see in those regions. As explained in a previous blog article we use complaints about spam as a rough proxy for overall actual SMS spam volumes. The darker the colour, the higher the number of COVID-19 SMS spam complaints

Geographic assignment to States is generated from the areacode information of the aggregated SMS spam target subscriber numbers (complaint reporters). This is not the actual location of the target number, but the state in which the target number is registered. For more information on using numbering plan information for geographic assignment see our our articles on visualising spam

United States

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COVID-19 SMS Spam Examples

Advice

Our advice to consumers is to be constantly vigilant. Do not click through on any links in SMS messages that you feel may be suspicious or respond to unsolicited messages. In the US you can report these spam messages to your carrier by forwarding the message to the phone number 7726. This helps the carrier (and us) identify and block more of these types of messages in the future.

For correct COVID-19 information, our recommendation is to rely on official sources such as the WHO or your country’s official government websites for medical information, COVID-19 financial supports, health and travel advisories. Like a pandemic, these types of messages often target and hurt the most vulnerable people in our society. Let’s stop the spread of COVID-19 SMS spam.

SMS Spam Dashboard