Australians should not click messages that offer them an option to ‘opt out’ of receiving texts from strangers

Complaints from people receiving fake texts have never been higher since Flubot scams begun in Australia a few weeks ago, and now, sick predators are using this fact to their advantage.

The government’s Scamwatch organisation warned Aussies on Friday the latest Flubot trap was pretending to offer people a way to “opt out” of receiving scam messages.

“If you want to stop receiving messages, opt out here,” the text message read, following by a link to a “programapode” website.

Scamwatch told Twitter users to not click the link under any circumstance, as it would download Flubot onto their phone.

“Flubot scammers know their constant stream of messages is frustrating and so they’ve come up with this new scam trick to make you want to click the link,” its tweet read.

“Clicking this link will download Flubot, not stop messages. Delete these texts.”

Flubot scams, typically characterised by a text sent en masse from an Australian phone number and a link to a website, first began infecting Aussie phones on August 2.

Since then, 13,000 Australians have filed formal complaints with Scamwatch via the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Scamwatch issued another warning on Wednesday after becoming aware of two new text message tricks being used by Flubot scammers.

One was a message that read: “I want to send you a voice message on Zello! Tap to download”.

The other claimed an iinet phone app needed to be downloaded so a voicemail could be heard.

The new tactic is similar to the first Flubot messages that encouraged Australians to click a malicious a website link that promised contain a missed voicemail.

They then tried getting people to open a website link which claimed to have tracking information for a parcel delivery.

Another foul trick used last week told phone users to click a link to see a photo of themselves that had been shared online.

“It’s a very sophisticated scam and potentially very dangerous. It can compromise people’s bank accounts,” deputy chair of the ACCC Delia Rickard told news.com.au.

“Whatever you do, don’t click on the link.”

The only ways to get rid of the Flubot viruses was by getting an IT professional to wipe it from your phone, downloading antivirus software, or doing a factory reset.

Ms Rickard said those suspicious of having a virus on their device should not use any of their personal accounts while it was infected.

If you have lost personal information to a scammer you can contact IDCARE or call 1800 595 160. You can also make a report to ReportCyber.