Cyber ​​Fraud: Actually, this flaw was related to an old feature called Email-to-Text service.

(iPhone and Android users may be scammed)

Cyber ​​Fraud: People often believe that text messages are completely secure and that the name displayed on their phone is the same as the person who sent the message. However, a serious security vulnerability recently revealed has questioned this belief. Taking advantage of this vulnerability, cybercriminals could impersonate the identity of any trusted individual and send messages that appear genuine.

Now, with the help of researchers and mobile companies, this problem has been resolved, which has provided relief to millions of smartphone users.

How did this hidden flaw work?

Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego discovered this vulnerability. The issue existed on both Android and iPhone platforms and affected several major mobile networks.

The flaw was originally related to an older feature called Email-to-Text, which allowed emails to be converted directly into SMS and sent to mobile numbers.

Email and SMS mix became a source of trouble.

Email and text messaging are based on different technologies. When an email is converted to SMS, network companies must translate a lot of information.

This is where the problem arose. During this process, the sender's identity was not fully disclosed. Cybercriminals could exploit this vulnerability by concealing their true identity and creating messages that appeared to be in someone else's name.

Phone contacts could also be victims of fraud.

According to the researchers, attackers could use special characters and variations in email addresses to trick the phone into believing the message came from a saved contact.

The result was that the name of a friend, relative or colleague would appear on the screen, while the message was actually sent by an unknown person.

Fake messages could also enter old chats

Most worryingly, in some cases, fake messages could be embedded into ongoing conversations, making the user believe the message was sent by the same person they were already chatting with. This made the fraudulent messages appear more credible and increased the likelihood of people falling for the scam.

Although attackers could not read user responses, being able to send messages impersonating a trusted person was a significant threat in itself.

Big companies released security updates

Following the discovery of this research, many mobile networks and smartphone companies have made changes to their systems, implementing new security measures to better verify the sender's information.

Additionally, necessary improvements were also made to the messaging services of Android and iPhone to prevent such spoofing incidents in the future.