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LITTLE ROCK - Scammers have resorted to new lows in an age-old scheme to steal consumers' personal information. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is once again warning Arkansans of phishing schemes where scam artists will send a link through text or email hoping the cell phone users will allow access to information on the phone. The updated scam adds additional shock value because scammers have added vulgar and sexual messages in anticipation that users will click that link. This scam is an attempt to surprise users while gaining access to personal information stored on their device.
"Scam artists are disgusting and have reinvented an old scam in a vulgar way to steal from Arkansans," said Attorney General Rutledge. "If you receive a fake text message that you did not sign up for, do not click on anything in the message and delete the message immediately."
Attorney General Rutledge recommends the following tips if you receive this group text scam:
- Do NOT answer or engage with the text message. These scams are attempting to get a response from group members to steal personal information off the phone.
- Block the calling or texting number on your phone and delete the texts.
- If the calling number is the spoofed contact of someone you know unblock the number after a few hours or days; otherwise, the person with that number will not be able to reach you.
- Cell phone users may have an option to filter and block messages from their phones directly. Users can filter and block messages on an iPhone and block a phone number on an Android phone.
- iPhone and Android users also have the ability to report spam and junk messages that are sent to their phones. iPhone users can find additional information here while Android users can find information here.
- Any cell phone user can also report text messages by copying the message and forwarding it to 7726 (SPAM) and reporting the message to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
For more information and tips on how to avoid a scam, call the Arkansas Attorney General's Office at (800) 482-8982 or visit ArkansasAG.gov.
About Attorney General Leslie Rutledge
Leslie Carol Rutledge is the 56th Attorney General of Arkansas. Elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn in on January 13, 2015, she is the first woman and first Republican in Arkansas history to be elected as Attorney General. She was resoundingly re-elected on November 6, 2018. Since taking office, she has significantly increased the number of arrests and convictions against online predators who exploit children and con artists who steal taxpayer money through Social Security Disability and Medicaid fraud. Further, she has held Rutledge Roundtable meetings and Mobile Office hours in every county of the State each year, and launched a Military and Veterans Initiative. She has led efforts to roll back government regulations that hurt job creators, fight the opioid epidemic, teach internet safety, combat domestic violence and make the office the top law firm for Arkansans. Rutledge serves as co-chairs of the National Association of Attorneys General Veterans Affairs Committee, re-established and co-chairs the National Association of Attorneys General Committee on Agriculture and was the former Chairwoman of the National Association of Attorneys General Southern Region. As the former Chairwoman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, she remains active on the Executive Board.
A native of Batesville, she is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. Rutledge clerked for the Arkansas Court of Appeals, was Deputy Counsel for former Governor Mike Huckabee, served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Lonoke County and was an Attorney at the Department of Human Services before serving as Counsel at the Republican National Committee. Rutledge and her husband, Boyce, have one daughter. The family has a home in Pulaski County and a farm in Crittenden County.
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