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A few weeks ago, I woke up to an early morning text message on my smartphone. It wasn’t my editor or a needy friend from a different time zone. It was a message from myself.

“Free Message: Your March bill is paid. Thank you, here’s a little gift for you” text read from my own phone number and directing me to a web link.

I received a handful of such messages in the last month. Many online forums Verizon customers reported the same experience.

It was clear to me what was going on. The scammers had used internet tools to manipulate phone networks to send me a message from a number they didn’t actually text. It was the same method that robbers use to “fraud” phone calls appearing to come from a legitimate person, such as a neighbor. If I had clicked on the web link, I would likely have been asked for personal information such as a credit card number that a scammer could use for fraud.

Consumers have been battling cell phone spam for years, especially in the form of automated calls that scammers ring incessantly to leave fraudulent messages about late payments on student loans, inspections by the Internal Revenue Service, and expired car warranties.

Only recently, cell phone scams have shifted more to texting, experts said. Spam texts from all kinds of phone numbers – and not just your own number – are on the rise. In March, 11.6 billion scam messages were sent on American wireless networks, a 30 percent increase from February. It outpaced automated searches, which increased by 20 percent over the same period, according to an analysis by teletextmaking anti-spam tools for phones.

Verizon has confirmed that it is investigating the text issue. On Monday, he said the issue was resolved. “We blocked the source of a recent text messaging scheme where bad actors sent fake text messages to Verizon customers that appeared to be coming from the recipient’s own number,” Verizon spokesperson Adria Tomaszewski said.

AT&T and T-Mobile representatives said they did not see the same issue. However, text spam affects all wireless subscribers and carriers are no longer online resources how can people protect themselves and report spam.

Text scams vary widely, but most often involve leaking your personal data through messages disguised as tracking updates for fake package deliveries or information about health products and online banking. Teltech said their rise is partly due to the fact that sending messages is so effortless. Also, industry-wide and government efforts to block automated calls may be forcing scammers to switch to text messages.

“Scammers are always looking for the next big thing,” said Giulia Porter, vice president of Teltech. “Spam texts are increasing at a much more severe rate than spam calls.”

Here’s what to watch out for and what you can do in text scams.

What does spam text look like?

By far the most common text scam, according to Teltech, is a message impersonating a company such as UPS, FedEx, or Amazon that offers a shipment update in a package.

Last week, I got messages saying a Samsung TV – a big ticket to my attention – was undeliverable. Another advertised an anti-aging skin cream. Another post touted the benefits of a product that cures brain fog.

Watch out for these descriptive signs of a fraudulent text:

• Scam messages usually come from phone numbers that are 10 digits or longer. Real business entities usually send messages on four, five, or six digit numbers.

• The message contains misspelled words intended to circumvent wireless carriers’ spam filters.

• Links in a scam text often look weird. They are web links that contain phrases or phrases such as droppoundsketo.com, rather than a traditional web link of “www.websitename.com”. This practice, called URL masking, involves using a fake web link that redirects you to a different web address that asks for your personal information.

how to protect yourself

First of all, never click on a link or file in a suspicious message.

Never reply to such a message. Even typing “STOP” will show a scammer that your phone number is active.

To report a fraudulent message, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile offer the same number for forwarding messages: 7726. After forwarding, the operator asks for the phone number the message came from.

If text spam is getting overwhelming, spam filtering practices such as Teltech’s TextKiller is to help. Blocking spam for $4 a month, the app scans messages from phone numbers that aren’t in your address book. If the text is detected as spam, it will be filtered to a folder labeled “Junk”.

TextKiller was finicky—perhaps too finicky. It successfully caught five spam messages in five days, but at the same time incorrectly filtered two legitimate messages, including a response from Verizon thanking me for reporting the spam, and a message from an AT&T spokesperson. So, I wouldn’t recommend paying $4 a month for this iPhone-only app, unless the spam texts are getting really unbearable for you.

A more practical solution is to use free tools to minimize interruptions from spam texts. On iPhones, you can open the Settings app, tap on messages, and enable the “filter unknown senders” option. This places messages from numbers not in your phone book in a separate messages folder. On Android phones, you can open the messages app, go into the spam settings and enable “block unknown senders”.

Finally, both iPhones and Android devices include the ability to open a message’s settings and block a specific number from contacting you.

As a result

This story has moral value: We can help prevent spam from flooding our phones if: we stop sharing our phone numbers This includes the cashier at a retail store asking for our phone number to get a discount, or an app or website that asks for our numbers when we sign up for an account. Who knows where our numbers will end up in the hands of marketers?

A better idea for all of us is to carry a second set of numbers that can be generated with free internet calling apps like the ones below. google voiceWe treat it as a burner phone number.

That way, the next time a scammer tries to send you a message from yourself, that message won’t come from your own number.