01/07/2026
What perfect timing! I had a funny moment yesterday, got a text that looked exactly like it was from my bank. You know the one, "verify your account," dodgy link, the works.
Except my bank has spent years telling me they'll never send a text like that.
๐ข ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐จ ๐ช๐ฃ๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐, ๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ข๐๐จ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฌ๐จ ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐จ "๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐" ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐จ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ก ๐จ๐๐๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐จ.
Took us a while to get here, but here we are - where a brand now needs government permission just to prove it's telling the truth.
If your business sends bookings, reminders, or marketing texts under your name, Iโd check today whether your provider has registered you. Otherwise, tomorrow your legitimate texts might look exactly like the scam you've spent years warning people about.
Good thing I donโt textโฆ (too much)! ๐คฃ