Odd SMS - Missing Person

[Citroënbender]

This dropped a few minutes back.

I was unaware of the approach beforehand:

https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/safety...ing_sms_system

[foxtrot3]

Hi. A much smarter idea than printing faces on milk cartons that they tried a few years ago. Cheers MD

[lra]

I got one of those messages a few months ago about a missing woman in our area.

Initial thoughts were SCAM after looking at the number, and did an internet phone number check, and found out it was genuine.

A bit more publicity about these messages would be beneficial as there are so many rubbish texts being received and deleted by the general public who are tired of attempted scam texts.

[Citroënbender]

Like yourself, I was skeptical, and checked the source number.

There’s a misapprehension that we’re all enmeshed in social media to the point we would have been aware of this strategy prior.

[prktkljokr]

Have seen a few of these over the years, Only really goes out in the surrounding suburbs of where the person goes missing, the last 2 I received the people were found miles away after a week or so, they would be better sending it to every suburb in the metro area to get a better result.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by lra

I got one of those messages a few months ago about a missing woman in our area.

Initial thoughts were SCAM after looking at the number, and did an internet phone number check, and found out it was genuine.

A bit more publicity about these messages would be beneficial as there are so many rubbish texts being received and deleted by the general public who are tired of attempted scam texts.

Any message with attached link I consider a scam and will delete immediately, without link I consider safe as you can contact any local police quite easy.
I've been shafted once by a very clever scam that looked the real deal.

[ford71V8]

I would have dismissed it as a rubbish text and hit delete.
Good idea to share this

[Tonz]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

I would have dismissed it as a rubbish text and hit delete.
Good idea to share this

I'd wager you dont find him.

[M&Ms]

Received these in our local area in the past, originally thought they were scam, but they are actually genuine. In parallel, the local highway patrol are sitting on the motorway onramp trying to ping somebody doing a speed that is safe for the conditions, yet above the **** poor motorway speed sign. Priorities, right?

[Yellow_Festiva]

This sort of targeted notification should be used more in Australia.

2 months ago I was on a tiny island in Philippines. In the middle of the night my phone started blaring with an alarm tone I had never heard before.

It really shocked me and woke me up in a panic. It didn't stop till I stopped it myself.

I woke to find a public alert message on my screen (not a SMS style regular notification) warning of some bad weather coming my way (or similar).

I received 2 or 3. I played with the settings on my phone and found that there is a sort of local alert option I could turn on and off - it was defaulted to on I assume.

In all the times of flood and fire (and I lived in an area of both) we relied on radio, going to Facebook or other sites / apps to get the latest information - nothing localised was sent to us that I could recall in the way it was received in Philippines.

Why isn't this used here more often? Bloody brilliant idea.

[George V]

Last week, a police chopper was flying low in circles and making an announcement in our area. Could not work out that it was for a while due to chopper noise.

It was about a missing person with description etc. That was about an old lady with intellectual disability too. It went on for more than 30min.



Regards,
George V

[xxx000]

Problem is scammers can spoof any number in their texts or calls to you. Our son once received a scam call from his own number and I've had scammers ask for the number of your local police then call me back spoofing that number.
Obviously though for missing persons alerts these SMS work well and are a great idea for enlisting the publics help