A troubling new report on digital scams in the United States reveals that 30% of Americans who encountered such criminal activity in the past year said it started with a text or messaging app. That’s up 20% from the previous year.
Those results are part of the 2025 Cyber Readiness Report. It is an annual assessment from Consumer Reports, Aspen Digital, and the Global Cyber Alliance.
And it is within this context that Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin spent part of this week promoting his upcoming Consumer Fraud and Protection Summit on Monday, September 28, and Tuesday, September 29 in Little Rock.
Griffin also says one of the most common crimes involve texting scams. He offered some examples and some advice, while speaking recently on the statewide news program “Talk Business & Politics.” “You either didn’t pay your toll, you didn’t make jury duty, you’ve got a warrant out for your arrest. You haven’t paid the DMV. There’s all kind of fraud going on with this.” Griffin added, “If it says DMV, call the actual DMV and say, ‘hey, did you text me asking for money?’ If it says sheriff, call the actual sheriff.’ But, those are scams.”
This will be the fourth annual summit. Griffin says, “Our lineup of speakers will include attorney general colleagues and experts from around the country, as well as some who are on the front lines fighting fraud here in Arkansas.”
The summit will take place at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. Like previous years, summit admission is free, but prior registration is required and “will cover such topics as identifying and avoiding common scams, recognizing price gouging, learning little-known truths about robocalls and text scams, understanding how we address Medicaid fraud, and much more.”
According to the Federal Trade Commission, the top five text scams are estimated to account for roughly half of all text frauds reported to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2024 include:
- Fake package delivery problems
- Phony Job Opportunities
- Fake fraud alerts
- Bogus notices about unpaid tolls
- “Wrong number” texts that aren’t
Consumers reported losing $470 million to scams originating from text messages. The FTC advises never clicking links in unexpected messages or replying to numbers you don’t recognize.
For advice ranging from how to get less Spam in your email, to how to recognize and report Spam text messages and other helpful advice, click here.
