CyberSafe Living

Having problems with your Android Device? You may be stuck in the SMS of Death Loop!

The SMS of Death is a security flaw in Android phones (officially tracked as CVE-2026-58882). An attacker who knows your phone number can send a specially crafted text message that never appears in your Messages app, never shows a notification, and never displays a sender. You don’t have to open anything or click anything. The message is processed silently in the background by the part of Android that handles phone calls and cellular service.

The SMS of Death is a security flaw in Android phones (officially tracked as CVE-2026-58882). An attacker who knows your phone number can send a specially crafted text message that never appears in your Messages app, never shows a notification, and never displays a sender. You don’t have to open anything or click anything. The message is processed silently in the background by the part of Android that handles phone calls and cellular service.

Most of us have been taught for years: “Don’t click suspicious links. Don’t open unexpected attachments. Don’t download files from people you don’t know.” That’s still excellent advice. But zero-click spyware works differently. With these attacks, your phone or computer can become infected without you tapping anything, opening anything, or even noticing that something happened.

In this episode, we’ll explain what zero-click spyware actually is, how attackers pull it off, why it matters even if you’re not a high-profile journalist or activist, and most importantly the practical steps you can take right now to reduce your risk. 

Think about it. Scammers don’t always need to hack your computer. A lot of the time, they just need you to hand them the keys. Your Social Security number, your bank details, your birthday, your address, your mother’s maiden name, even the name of your dog or the street you grew up on these pieces of information are like gold to people who want to steal your identity, drain your accounts, or trick you into sending money.

This episode of CyberSafe Living explains title fraud (also called deed fraud or home title theft). It covers how criminals forge documents to transfer ownership of a property without the owner’s knowledge, who is most at risk (especially seniors with free-and-clear homes), and the practical free and low-cost steps homeowners can take to detect and reduce the risk.

A text that only says “Hi” is often the first move in a wrong-number scam, also called pig butchering. If you reply, even with “wrong number” or “no worries,” you confirm your phone is active. The sender stays friendly for days or weeks, then steers the chat toward a fake crypto investment.

In July 2025, 71-year-old widower Larry Sorenson of Brentwood, California, answered a text meant for “Caitlin” about dropping off a dog. The person who called herself Tina kept talking. He later moved about $1 million from his IRA into an account that looked like it had grown to $2.4 million. The money was gone. His daughter Megan was the one who said, “Larry, this is a scam.” Reported by ABC7 News Bay Area, October 2025.

From CyberSafe Living: do not reply. Block the number. Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM). If money was sent, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and IC3.gov.

A stranger who texts “Hi” is not starting a friendship. They are checking if the line is open. Leave it closed.

A fake bank email can look perfect. You type your password, then the six-digit code from your phone, and someone else is inside your account. This CyberSafe Living episode explains a small physical key, about the size of a house key, that stops that kind of theft even when the fake page looks real.

Have you ever gotten one of those emails that says your password was found in a data breach...and you just deleted it because it felt like spam? Or maybe you’ve never checked at all. Here’s the truth: millions of people are already in breaches and don’t know it. Today I’m going to show you exactly how to find out if your information has been exposed, why ignoring it is risky, and the simple steps you can take right now to stop the damage before it gets worse.

You can check to see if you've been involved in a data breach by going to: Have I Been Pwned (haveibeenpwned.com) 

Today we’re talking about a word that gets a lot of people in trouble: free.

Free software. Free upgrade. Free full version. Free crack. It sounds like a bargain. A lot of the time, it’s the opposite. That download can cost you your passwords, your bank login, even control of your computer and you may not notice until the damage is done.

This week we have a guest that shares his story on how they got his email, his bank, ran his credit cards and came within a breath of his taking his retirement. And his Android phone was not hacked in the old-fashioned way it was taken over. Completely.

Here is the part that should stop you: he still is not sure what he did to let them in. That is not a failure of memory. That is how these attacks are built. One tap. Allow. Update. Install. Then the bank sees him, because they are sitting inside his session.

Stay with us while our guest reconstructs the timeline the first thing that felt off, the moment the phone stopped belonging to him, and the stretch where everything else fell. Then we stay for the unglamorous part: the calls, the hold music, the “fraud department,” and whether the credit card companies actually worked with him to recoup what was charged.

If you bank on your phone, this one is for you.