Irritating text messages have generated more than $1 billion

Annoying text messages about unpaid toll fines have generated more than $1 billion over three years for organized crime groups in China.

Irritating text messages have generated more than $1 billion
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Tech and Science Editor
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TL;DR: Scam texts targeting US residents, often posing as postal or toll payment alerts, generate over $1 billion annually, driven by Chinese criminal networks. These groups use phishing and stolen credit cards to fund fraudulent purchases, primarily gift cards, exploiting victims through organized, large-scale text message campaigns.

If you have a smartphone, you have received a scam text, and if your information has been shared around online, you probably get scam texts several times a week. While most people ignore these texts as they are obviously nefarious, they generate more than $1 billion per year.

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It's an unfortunate thought to know that scammers are taking hard-earned money from everyday people that think they are paying for things such as US Postal Service fees, unpaid traffic violations, or a toll payment that is overdue. These are just some of the texts that US residents are receiving on a daily basis, and according to officials criminal organizations operating out of China are responsible for at least the toll and postage messages.

With just those two messages, the organized crime groups have generated more than $1 billion over the last three years, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Officials state that behind these text messages are criminal networks that are being connected to server farms, which then send a flurry of text messages to potential victims.

The criminal networks then use phishing websites to gather the victims' credit card information, which they then use to hire gig workers in the US who max out stolen credit cards for a small fee. The stolen credit card information is placed into Google and Apple Wallets in Asia, and then shared with people in the US, who purchase $100 gift cards, iPhones, clothing, cosmetics, etc. However, it's mostly gift cards, which they then ship back to China.

"Having these cards put into digital wallets is so powerful because multi-factor authentication is never needed again. You've effectively told your bank that you trust this device," said Ford Merrill, a researcher at the threat intelligence firm SecAlliance

"Once it's shipped to China, it's sold in China, and all that money goes to Chinese organized crime groups," Parks said