#Highlighted this like a zelda game I'm so sorry ghjdfklg

[lighthouse-system]

There's gonna be scam and phishing texts running rampant this weekend specifically, so your local software developer/IT guy is here to post a couple reminders. I've made the important text red to stick out in case TL;DR.

If a text asks you to click on a link that you did not explicitly ask for, don't click it. Instead, go to the site of whoever they claim to be (e.g: A text claiming to be UPS says your package couldn't be delivered and sends a link, so go to ups.com and resolve the issue that way if it even exists). It's imperative that you do not click on the link in the text under any circumstances. See number 2.

Do not send a read receipt. If you send a read receipt, that tells the scammer that your number is active and they should keep you on their mailing list for further scamming. Furthermore, they may share your number with other scammers.

Seriously, do not click that link under any circumstances by the way. Even if you want to, just to test if it works. If there's anything in that link like "?id=589hjsfgsdfhjg3" or something, that's a parameter that will be passed into the server hosting the website. That id is unique to you, and it will, like in number 2, ping the scammers that your number is active in the best scenario. In the worst scenario, it will launch malicious software on your phone. You should always assume the worst from these situations, so do not click that link. Period.

If you are on Android, you can are usually given a choice to send a read receipt when you tap on the message. In almost all circumstances, you are better off choosing not to send read receipts, especially here. If you are on iOS, tap and hold the message to preview it without sending a read receipt. If you want to just delete this text and not deal with it, then just delete it and report it as junk.

For those of you that actually want to take these places down, go to the ICANN Lookup tool, type in the URL, and then email whoever is listed as the abuse contact email. I'd also include the number of whoever texted you.

If there is no email listed to contact, Google has a report phishing page if you search "Report phishing". This will, at the very least, take them off of Google in case they're using search results to also lure in victims.

Stay safe this weekend and be on the lookout for stuff like this.