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The Phone Call That Cost One Company $23 Million In early 2024, a finance employee at a multinational firm in Hong Kong joined a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every person on the screen was a deepfake. The employee transferred
The Text Message That Cost One Company $15 Million In 2022, Twilio disclosed that a sophisticated smishing campaign tricked several employees into handing over their credentials via text messages impersonating the company's IT department. The attackers then used those stolen credentials to access internal systems and customer data.
In March 2024, the FBI's IC3 reported that Americans lost over $45 million to smishing and vishing schemes in a single year — and those are just the cases people actually reported. I've personally investigated incidents where a single SMS message led to a six-figure wire transfer
82% of Phishing Sites Now Target Mobile Devices In 2024, Zimperium's Global Mobile Threat Report found that 82% of phishing sites specifically targeted mobile devices. That number didn't surprise me. What surprised me was how many security teams I spoke with still treated mobile phishing attacks
A Single Text Message Cost This Company $15 Million In 2022, Twilio disclosed that a coordinated smishing campaign tricked employees into entering credentials on a fake login page. Attackers used those credentials to access internal systems and compromise data for over 100 customers. The whole thing started with a text
In 2023, the FBI's IC3 reported over $5.6 billion in losses from phishing and its variants — and smishing, the SMS-based cousin, drove a massive chunk of that number. I've watched smishing evolve from clumsy "you won a prize" texts into sophisticated, multi-step social
The Text Message That Cost One Company $15 Million In 2022, threat actors hit Twilio with an SMS-based social engineering attack that compromised employee credentials and exposed data for over 160 customers. The attack didn't involve a sophisticated zero-day exploit. It started with a text message pretending to
76,000 Victims and Counting — The FBI's Smishing Alert Is Serious In early 2024, the FBI and FTC issued urgent warnings about a massive smishing campaign impersonating toll collection agencies and delivery services across all 50 states. By late 2025, the IC3 had cataloged tens of thousands of
In December 2025, the FBI issued a stark public warning: delete suspicious text messages immediately. The advisory specifically called out a wave of smishing texts — SMS-based phishing attacks — targeting Americans with fake toll road notices, package delivery scams, and fraudulent financial alerts. The bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center
In March 2025, the FBI's IC3 warned that Americans lost over $470 million to phishing and smishing schemes in the prior reporting year — and text-based attacks were growing faster than any other vector. I've personally triaged incidents where a single SMS message led to a six-figure
