One trick con artists have been up to lately involves sending targets random, harmless text messages before attempting to scam them.

SCAM
The origins of the term come from the Irish word for “ring.”
Planning to travel? Better keep some of those details to yourself.
A request for a gift card from a friend may not be from a friend at all.
In 1590s France, a young woman went on a touring exhibition to demonstrate she was under the spell of a demon. A clever group of theologians proved otherwise.
This particular phishing scam dangles a free gift in front of anyone who clicks the link in the spam text message. Don’t fall for it.
‘Phishing’ has become a catch-all term for basically any internet scam. When it was coined in the ’90s, that wasn’t the case.
Some of the most infamous scams in history have been Ponzi schemes. But before Bernie Madoff, there was Charles Ponzi himself.