It's Not Just Email Anymore: How Smishing and Messaging Scams Target Businesses

Most employees know to be careful with suspicious emails. They check the sender's address, avoid unfamiliar attachments, and think twice before clicking unexpected links. But what happens when the same message arrives on their phone instead?

It might look like a delivery notification, a message from a manager, a request from the finance department, or an alert about a company account. The wording feels familiar, the request seems urgent, and the message appears on a platform employees use every day.

That is exactly what makes messaging scams effective.

Cybercriminals are no longer relying only on email to reach their targets. SMS messages, WhatsApp, social media messaging, and other communication platforms have become additional ways to trick employees into sharing sensitive information, revealing login credentials, or making unauthorized payments.

For businesses, this creates a security challenge that is easy to overlook. Employees may be trained to recognize phishing emails, but they may not apply the same level of caution to messages received on their phones.

Why Attackers Are Moving Beyond Email

Email remains an important channel for cyberattacks, but messaging platforms offer attackers a different opportunity. People often read text messages quickly, respond immediately, and make decisions without examining the details. A message that appears to come from a colleague may not receive the same scrutiny as an unexpected email from an unknown sender. Employees may also assume that a familiar messaging platform is trustworthy simply because they use it every day.

Attackers take advantage of these habits. A fraudulent message might claim that an employee's account will be suspended unless they verify their details. Another might ask a finance employee to process an urgent payment. A third could pretend to be a supplier sharing an updated invoice or delivery document. The platform is not necessarily the problem. The problem is the trust people place in the message and the pressure they feel to respond. When a scam combines a believable story with urgency, even an experienced employee can make a mistake.

What Is Smishing, and How Does It Work?

Smishing is a form of phishing that uses SMS text messages to deceive people into taking an unsafe action. The term combines “SMS” and “phishing.” The message might contain a link to a fake login page, ask the recipient to provide personal information, or direct them to contact a fraudulent support number. Some messages imitate banks, courier services, payment providers, or well-known online platforms.

Imagine an employee receiving a text saying that their business email account will be disabled unless they verify their password immediately. The message includes a link to a page that looks almost identical to the company's normal sign-in screen. The employee opens the link and enters their credentials. The page may then display a generic error or redirect them to a legitimate website, leaving them unaware that their information has been captured.

If the stolen credentials are not adequately protected, an attacker may attempt to access company email, cloud applications, or other business systems. Not every suspicious message contains a link. Some ask recipients to reply with a verification code, call a number, or install an application. The objective is the same: persuade the recipient to take an action that benefits the attacker.

WhatsApp and Other Messaging Apps Are Also Targets

Messaging scams are not limited to traditional SMS. Business conversations increasingly take place through WhatsApp and similar platforms, making them attractive channels for impersonation and fraud.

Consider a situation in which an employee receives a WhatsApp message that appears to come from the company's CEO or department manager. The sender explains that they are busy in a meeting and need an urgent payment processed. They may provide bank details and ask the employee to keep the request confidential. The message sounds plausible because it resembles a normal workplace conversation. The employee may recognize the manager's name or see a familiar profile picture and assume the request is genuine. However, display names and profile pictures are not reliable proof of identity. An attacker may be using a different number, a compromised account, or a newly created profile designed to impersonate the person.

Similar scams can target customers, suppliers and employees. Attackers may pretend to be a vendor requesting payment to a new bank account, or claim to be an IT support representative who needs a verification code to resolve an account problem. The important lesson is that a familiar communication channel does not guarantee that the person on the other end is who they claim to be.

The Real Target Is Often Trust, Not Technology

Many messaging scams do not require sophisticated technical attacks. Instead, they rely on understanding how people behave at work. An attacker might know that finance employees regularly process invoices, that HR teams handle employee documents, or that IT staff often help colleagues resolve login problems. By using this information, the attacker can create a message that fits naturally into the recipient's responsibilities.

Urgency is another common tactic. Messages may mention an overdue payment, a suspended account, an important client, or a problem that must be resolved within minutes.

Employees may feel that questioning the request will delay business operations or upset a senior colleague. They may therefore act before checking whether the message is genuine.

This is why simply telling employees to “be careful” is rarely enough. Businesses need clear procedures that make verification a normal part of work, especially when messages involve credentials, sensitive information, software installation, or financial transactions.

How One Message Can Become a Larger Security Incident

A messaging scam may appear to involve only one employee and one phone. In reality, the consequences can extend much further. If an employee enters their company credentials on a fraudulent website, attackers may attempt to access business email or other connected services. If they successfully take over an account, they could use it to contact colleagues, search for sensitive information, or send convincing messages from a trusted identity.

A compromised account can also make subsequent scams more believable. A fraudulent request arriving from a genuine colleague's account may attract less suspicion than a message from an unfamiliar number. Financial fraud can be equally damaging. If an employee changes supplier payment details based on a fraudulent message, the business may transfer money to an account controlled by an attacker. Recovering that money can be difficult, particularly if the fraud is discovered late. Not every scam leads to a breach or financial loss, but organizations should treat suspicious messages seriously because the initial interaction can be the beginning of a wider attack.

How Businesses Can Reduce the Risk

The first step is to make verification part of everyday business communication. Employees should not rely solely on a sender's display name, profile picture, or apparent familiarity. When a message requests money, passwords, verification codes, or sensitive information, the request should be checked through a separate, trusted channel.

For example, if a manager sends an unexpected payment request through WhatsApp, the employee should confirm it by calling the manager using a known company number or following the organization's established approval process. Replying to the same suspicious message is not independent verification. Businesses should also establish clear rules for financial changes. Requests to update supplier bank details, make unusual payments, or bypass normal approval procedures should receive additional verification, regardless of whether they arrive by email, SMS, or a messaging app.

Account security is equally important. Multi-factor authentication can reduce the risk associated with stolen passwords, while passkeys or other phishing-resistant authentication methods can provide stronger protection where supported. Employees should never share one-time verification codes with someone who contacts them unexpectedly. Organizations should also protect company-managed devices, keep operating systems and applications updated, and use appropriate mobile security controls. Where business information is accessed through personal devices, clear policies should explain how employees are expected to protect that information. Finally, awareness training should include examples of SMS scams, WhatsApp impersonation, fraudulent payment requests, and verification-code theft. Employees need to know how to report suspicious messages without fear of being blamed for asking questions.

What Should an Employee Do After Clicking a Suspicious Link?

Even with training and security controls, mistakes can happen. The way an organization responds can make a significant difference. If an employee clicks a suspicious link but does not enter information or install anything, they should report the incident and follow the company's security guidance. If they entered their password, they should notify IT or the security team immediately and change the affected credentials through the legitimate service, using a trusted device where possible.

If they shared a verification code, approved an unexpected login request, or installed an unfamiliar application, the incident should be escalated promptly. Security teams may need to revoke active sessions, review account activity, remove unauthorized access, and check whether other systems were affected.

If a payment was made following a suspicious request, the finance team should contact the bank immediately and follow the organization's fraud-reporting procedures. Speed matters because payment recovery may become more difficult as time passes. Employees should preserve the message and relevant details for investigation rather than simply deleting everything. Reporting the incident quickly helps the organization assess the risk and protect others who may receive the same message.

Messaging Security Needs to Be Part of Cybersecurity

Businesses have spent years improving email security, deploying spam filters and teaching employees how to recognize phishing attempts. Those measures remain important, but the threat landscape has expanded beyond the inbox.

Employees now move between email, SMS, WhatsApp, collaboration platforms, and social media throughout the working day. Attackers follow those communication habits and look for opportunities to exploit the trust people place in familiar tools. The answer is not to ban messaging applications or assume every unexpected message is malicious. It is to apply consistent security practices across every communication channel.

Employees should verify unusual requests, finance teams should follow established payment controls, and IT teams should have a clear process for investigating and responding to suspicious activity. Management should also encourage a culture where checking a request is considered responsible behaviour, not unnecessary delay.

Because a cyberattack does not always begin with a suspicious email. Sometimes, it starts with a message that looks completely normal.

As business communication continues to evolve, organizations need to make sure their cybersecurity practices evolve with it. Protecting a business means looking beyond the inbox and recognizing that any message asking for trust, access, or money deserves the right level of scrutiny.