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Responding to the text message can allow malware to be installed that will silently collect personal information from your phone. Imagine what an identity thief could do with the information from an online banking or credit card management app.

Scam artists know this and sometimes target consumers with phishing scams via text message or SMS (short message service). Text message or SMS phishingalso called smishingoccurs when scam artists use deceptive text messages to lure consumers into providing their personal or financial information.

Clicking on a phishing link or opening an attachment in one of these messages may install malware, like viruses, spyware or ransomware, on your device. This is all done behind the scenes, so it is undetectable to the average user.

Clicking on a link in a spam text message could install malware that can collect information from your phone. It can take you to spoof sites that look real but are designed to steal your information. Malware can also slow down your cell phone's performance by taking up space on your phone's memory.

Merely opening the message wouldn't do any harm, but if you click on those suspicious links, you might be redirected to some untrustworthy webpages or sites. Some texts messages might also contain links that can trigger the download of an unwanted app.

Android phones can get infected by merely receiving a picture via text message, according to research published Monday. This is likely the biggest smartphone flaw ever discovered.

These phishing attempts first started out as phone calls and emails, but now cybercriminals can also reach you via SMS (text message) through a popular phishing scam dubbed smishing. A good general rule of thumb for a text from someone you don't know is to just ignore it or delete it, says Stephen Cobb, senior