UPDATE:
I received a message from a second person at the Texas Democratic Party assuring me the person who contacted me was with the party. Advice still stands: NEVER give personal information to an anonymous text. Just opting in for messages will add your phone number to a variety of unwanted and annoying lists.
ORIGINAL POST:
Yesterday I received the following phishing scam on my phone:
“Hi! It’s ****** with Texas Democrats. What’s your name and zipcode?”
This was coming from the anonymous short code number 21333.
Now, obviously, you don’t give personal information of any kind to an anonymous caller. Ever. But here’s what’s annoying. When I called the Texas Democratic Party, I couldn’t get through to anyone so I left a message on several of its lines. I didn’t know if this is something the party was doing or if this was something they needed to be warned about.
Earlier this week, someone posing as Preston Hollow Democrats was doing another email scam. See story here.
However, after leaving half a dozen message and emails at Texas Democrats, I finally got a response from the party by email. This phishing expedition seems to be actually coming from them.
“I believe that is our text message campaign to keep you updated with TDP,” wrote Rafael Benavides, Spanish Press Secretary, Texas Democratic Party.
He believes?
“You can respond if you want to get informed but it’s not required,” he continued.
Obviously not required.
But answer my questions. How am I supposed to know if “******” is actually from the Democratic Party if the party’s own press secretary isn’t quite sure? How do I distinguish a text that’s simply obnoxious from an attempt to steal identity? When I replied twice and asked for a serious answer, I got no reply.
So I repeat, never give personal information to an anonymous text message. Even the Democratic Party couldn’t assure me their obnoxious text was actually from them and they didn’t deny it’s a phishing scam.
— David Taffet
