[nmglug] Will curiosity kill my cat? What is this?

[Akkana Peck]

Tom Ashcraft writes:
> I am hooked but not enthusiastic about the new device (Moto G6, Ting).  Google 
> and Android totally creep me out, but I think I've got that aspect as 
> constrained as is reasonably possible.  (Synced Contacts being the really 
> horrible, notable exception.)

You don't need to sync your contacts either, if you don't want to;
Android still works with local/only contacts. Though of course, we
shouldn't assume that means Google doesn't know our contacts.

> I'm keeping the old $10 Tracfone "feature phone" around until the renew date 
> so I don't inadvertently cut off old friends and contacts I can't deal with in 
> the near term.  

I'm sure you know that you can port the old number to the new phone
if you choose. But it sounds like ditching the old number is part of
your motivation for this move.

> In the last couple of months I've received probably three very strange but 
> similar text messages on the Tracfone.  Part of the reason I finally decided 
> to make the switch.  This is the most recent:
> 
> 1-400-200-501
> 
> FRM:larryet
> MSG:
> http:///20kr.Du0.s.h.icu? ee2py neckas he drew short

I've gone through periods where I got a bunch of those, then I won't
get any for a long time. As far as I know they're just random spam:
ignore and delete. I'm not sure if any carriers offer spam blocking
for texts; I have Tracfone over Verizon and they don't seem to offer
anything like that.

> I don't dare type any of it into a browser.  Can anyone decode or explain it 
> to me?  Is it some kind of hack or is it just kids on drugs or something?

I definitely wouldn't tap on the link. I usually assume they lead to
malware sites -- I don't worry about that much on Linux, but on
Android it's a big deal since security fixes run so far behind,
if you can get them at all.

Though whois h.icu gives me "Network is unreachable" so maybe that
one isn't a risk.

        ...Akkana