Spotting when a message from a relative is not from them
Check whether a message really came from the person it names.
A text arrives. Hi Grandma, this is my new number. My phone broke. Can you help me with something? It reads exactly like your grandson.
It reads that way because it was written to. These messages are sent by the thousand, and the ones who reply are the ones who get called next.
The mechanism is simple. Anybody can claim to be anybody in a text. There is nothing inside a message that proves who typed it. Proof has to come from outside the message.
So you go outside it. Call the number you already have saved. If they say they cannot talk, that is itself the answer. Real emergencies survive a phone call.
Key points
- Nothing inside a message proves who wrote it.
- New number plus urgency plus money is the pattern.
- Call the number you already had saved.
- A request for secrecy is a reason to check, not to hurry.
- Once confirmed fake, block and report rather than reply.
What to remember
- Proof always comes from a channel the sender did not choose.
- Any request for secrecy from family is worth one phone call to that family.
- Once you know a message is fake, block it rather than answering it.
Try this
Agree a simple family question with one relative today, something only the two of you would know, and use it if a strange message ever arrives.
Practice: Spotting when a message from a relative is not from them. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.