Don’t Be Fooled: SMS Scam Promises Free $1,000 Best Buy Gift Cards That You’ll Never Get

SMS spam campaigns are nothing new. They range from the obvious to the cleverly disguised, some claiming that you've won a brand new car from a lottery you didn't even join, to messages telling you to call back because your credit card has been compromised.

Another one to join the latter group is this new SMS marketing campaign that's telling random recipients that they've won a $1,000 Best Buy gift card. The message is followed by a link to a scam site that was only created to steal your personal information so the cyber criminals behind it can send you more spam and scam messages.

Researchers from ESET uncovered the SMS phishing scams, which are otherwise known as "SMSishing" or "Smishing."

Your entry in our drawing WON you a FREE $1,000 Bestbuy Giftcard! Enter “619” at www.bestbuy.com/[redacted].biz to claim it and we can ship it to you immediately.

-- Best Buy Gift Card Smishing Scam

The link leads to a domain that will ask users for their email address and contact information. Before they can claim the "free" gift card, they will have to purchase six items and refer ten other friends who must also buy six items each themselves. If you will also take the time to browse the site, you'll notice that the last line of their privacy policy states that they will be reselling your contact information to other marketing companies.

That sounds like a lot of work for supposedly "winning" something and serves as a warning bell in itself, so leave the site while you're ahead and steer clear of scams like these in the future. It's an obvious scam through and through, so leave the site while you're ahead.

The next time you receive spam SMS messages like these, delete them right away and tell your friends and family to do the same.