"These cybercriminals are no longer content with just sending you the odd phishing text or two. As Wired reports, more and more of them are using so-called "SMS blasters" that basically act as a portable cell tower, tricking your phones into connecting with them as they cruise by. The scammers walk or drive around with the devices, firing out a ludicrous volume of SMS messages that contain dangerous links."
"One advantage of using SMS blasters is that they can impersonate any sender. Also, the scammers don't need your number to target your phone. That's because they're a type of cell-site simulator that can force any phone in its vicinity, which is anywhere between 500 to 2,000 yards, to connect with it. First, it lures your mobile device in with a legit-seeming 4G signal, then knocks you down to a less secure 2G connection."
Scammers use portable SMS blasters that mimic cell towers to coerce phones in a surrounding area into connecting. These devices can force any phone within roughly 500 to 2,000 yards to connect without needing the target's number and can impersonate any sender. The blasters typically capture a device with a 4G signal then downgrade it to insecure 2G, enabling the transmission of malicious SMS messages and links. One device has been reported to send about 100,000 texts per hour and nearly one million in a short operation. Operators can be unskilled drivers paid to deploy the equipment.
Read at Futurism
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