According to the Federal Trade Commission, the texts scammed Americans out of nearly half a billion dollars last year alone.
So where are all those texts coming from? It turns out, millions may be coming from Southern California.
Been Coon with the cyber security firm Unit221B tracks fraudster activity on the dark web. He's also tracking what are described as "SIM farms."
SIM farms contain dozens of SIM boxes, which in turn contain dozens of SIM cards. Your cell phone has a single SIM card that allows you to call and text.
The farms can have thousands of them.
Kevin Ozebek shares insights behind millions of scam texts being generated in LA
"I could logically put together in my head the ability to send out millions of text messages in a few minutes, depending on how big the farm is," Coon told ABC7 On Your Side Investigates.
Using IP addresses and public data, Coon can locate these SIM farms. Right now, he sees around 45 of them across the U.S. Four of those farms are in the Los Angeles area.
"Some of these scam texts are coming from your own city," said Coon.
The Secret Service warns that SIM farms can have an even darker side. A few weeks ago, federal agents busted a series of SIM farms around New York City.
"This network had the potential to dismantle cell phone towers and essentially shut down the cell phone network in New York City," said Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool.
But for us on the receiving end of these texts, the main message is never click the link, and never share your credit card or bank information without calling the company requesting it.
"That's a huge inconvenience," admitted Coon. "But it's better than losing access to your credit card and losing $100,000 from your savings account."
Coon says scammers overseas usually illegally ship the SIM farm equipment in then hire people in the U.S. to set them up. He says law enforcement is taking this all seriously, and he's now seeing these farms come down as fast as they pop up.
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